Studies in Matthew's Gospel: Literary Design, Intertextuality, and Social Setting

359 Pages·2014·2.9 MB·English

by  Wim J. C. Weren

Studies in Matthew’s Gospel
Biblical Interpretation Series
Editors in Chief
Paul Anderson (George Fox University)
Yvonne Sherwood (University of Kent)
Editorial Board
A.K.M. Adam (University of Oxford)
Roland Boer (University of Newcastle, Australia)
Musa Dube (University of Botswana)
Jennifer L. Koosed (Albright College, Reading, usa)
Vernon Robbins (Emory University)
Annette Schellenberg (Theological Seminary, San Francisco)
Carolyn J. Sharp (Yale Divinity School)
Johanna Stiebert (University of Leeds, uk)
Duane Watson (Malone University, usa)
Ruben Zimmermann ( Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
VOLUME 130
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bins
Studies in Matthew’s Gospel
Literary Design, Intertextuality, and Social Setting
By
Wim J.C. Weren
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weren, Wilhelmus Johannes Cornelis.
 Studies in Matthew’s gospel : literary design, intertextuality, and social setting / by Wim J.C. Weren.
  pages cm. — (Biblical interpretation series, ISSN 0928-0731 ; Volume 130)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-25495-4 (hardback : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-90-04-28051-9 (e-book)
1. Bible. Matthew—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
 BS2575.52.W46 2014
 226.2’06—dc23
2014024426
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 0928-0731
isbn 978-90-04-25495-4 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-28051-9 (e-book)
Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Contents
Preface  vii
Acknowledgements  ix
Abbreviations  xi
Introduction  1
PART 1
Literary Design
1 The Macrostructure of Matthew’s Gospel: A New Proposal  13
2 Children in Matthew’s Gospel: A Text-Semantic Analysis  42
3 Secret Knowledge and Divine Revelation in Matthew’s Gospel  52
4 Human Body and Life beyond Death in Matthew’s Gospel  71
PART 2
Intertextuality
5 Intertextuality: Theories and Practices  91
6 The Five Women in Matthew’s Genealogy as Paragons of Virtue  107
7 Two Quotations from Isaiah and Matthew’s Christology
(Matt 1:23 and 4:15–16)  125
8 Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce: Interpretations of Old Testament
Texts in Matt 5:27–32 and 19:3–12  143
9 Jesus’ Entry into Jerusalem: Matt 21:1–17 in the Light of the Hebrew Bible
and the Septuagint  162
10 The Use of Isa 5:1–7 in the Parable of the Tenants (Mark 12:1–12;
Matt 21:33–46)  186
vi contents
11 Matthew’s View of Jesus’ Resurrection: Transformations of a Current
Eschatological Scenario  210
12 The Ideal Community According to Matthew, James, and the
Didache  222
Part 3
History and Social Setting
13 The Real Community: History and Social Setting of the Matthean
Communities  251
14 “His Disciples Stole Him Away” (Mt 28:13): A Rival Interpretation of
Jesus’ Resurrection  266
15 From Q to Matt 22:1–14: New Light on the Transmission and Meaning
of the Parable of the Guests  277
Final Observations
Conclusions, Evaluation, Perspectives  297
Bibliography  303
Index of Modern Authors  327
Index of Sources  332
Preface
Ever since I obtained my doctorate in theology with a PhD thesis on Matthew’s
eschatology (1979),1 the First Gospel has had a special place within my aca-
demic research. Inspired by Old Testament scholar Wim Beuken and rabbi
Yehuda Aschkenasy, I devoted myself, in the years in which I worked at the
Catholic University of Theology Amsterdam, to an exegesis of texts from the
New Testament within the framework of their relations with Old Testament
texts and to the dynamic connection between textual units from Scripture and
discussions in the oral Torah, which have been partly codified in early Jewish
and rabbinic writings. I was able to give a new basis to these ideals by linking
them to my interest in the concept of synchronic exegetic methods.2
This interest fitted in with the research profile of the Biblical Studies
Department of the Tilburg Faculty of Theology, which I joined as professor of
New Testament Exegesis in 1984. Much experience had already been gained
at this Faculty with rhetorical analyses of Paul’s letters and with applying
semiotic reading models to the Gospels. These lines were further explored
in later research programmes such as ‘Bible: Meaning in Context’ and ‘Bible:
Reinventing Identities in Texts and Contexts’, in which methods from linguis-
tics and literary criticism were developed and applied to biblical exegesis. I
cherish very special memories of my cooperation with Old Testament col-
leagues Niek Poulssen, Jan Holman, Ellen van Wolde, the late Ron Pirson, Pierre
Van Hecke and Miranda Vroon-van Vugt, with my New Testament colleagues
the late Martin Rijkhoff, Huub van de Sandt, and Jürgen Zangenberg, and with
young PhD researchers whom I had the honour to supervise: Jean Bastiaens,
Vincent de Haas, Door Brouns-Wewerinke, Yvonne van den Akker-Savelsbergh,
and Harm Jan Inkelaar.
Within our research programmes, I particularly devoted myself to opera-
tionalising the concept of ‘intertextuality’ for productive application in Biblical
exegesis. In order to prevent that an intertextual study got bogged down in
making subjective links, I do not conduct an intertextual analysis until I have
made an in-depth exploration, in the context of an intratextual analysis, in
the patterns within each of the textual units that will play an important role
1 Wim Weren, De broeders van de Mensenzoon: Matteüs 25,31–46 als toegang tot de eschatologie
van Matteüs (PhD thesis, Radboud University Nijmegen; Amsterdam: Ton Bolland, 1979).
2 One result of this interest is my book Windows on Jesus: Methods in Gospel Exegesis (London:
SCM; Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1999), that was also published in Italian
(2001) and in Spanish (2003).
viii preface
in the subsequent comparison. This approach is reflected in the structure of
this book: a focus on the literary design in Part 1 (structural analysis and text
semantics) is followed by intertextual studies in Part 2. Since words and texts
not only refer to each other, but also to the extratextual reality, Part 3 contains
a number of observations on the history and social setting of the Matthean
communities.
For the sake of internal coherence, only studies on the Gospel of Matthew
are included in this book. Thirteen of them are light or more in-depth revisions
of articles that were published separately between 1996 and 2011 in scholarly
journals and monographs. Now that they are united, they acquire a certain
added value. Four chapters were incorporated into this book that have not
been previously published.
In the autumn of 2012, I was working as a visiting professor at the Faculty
of Catholic Theology of the University of Regensburg, where I taught a post-
graduate course about ‘Intertextuality in Matthew’, which was attended by
the following PhD students: Dimitris Apostolakis, Christian Bemmerl, Peter
Frühmorgen, Matthias Geigenfeind, Thomas Hösl, Elisabeth Lorenz, Michael
Sommer, and Veronika Ströher. I am greatly indebted to them for their con-
structive comments and critical questions.
I am grateful to Brill for the inclusion of this volume in the prestigious
Biblical Interpretation Series and in particular I would like to thank Liesbeth
Hugenholtz and Paige Sammartino for their help in preparing the manuscript.
Almost all studies collected here were translated into English by Mrs. Ineke
Sijtsma, who has worked as a translator at Tilburg University for many years
now. Our cooperation started in 1992. Over the years, we have become a very
good team. I am very grateful to Ineke for the great effort she has made, in
cooperation with native speakers, to enable these studies to play a role in inter-
national scholarly discussions.
In 1979, my PhD thesis was dedicated to my wife Wilma and our—then
two-year-old—son Jonatan. In 1980, Sarah was born. Together we have always
formed a closely-knit foursome, that is further expanding because our children
now have children of their own: Merel, Isa, Valentijn, Fabian and Floris. To this
new generation I dedicate this book; they are a true blessing to us.
Acknowledgements
The following chapters have been previously published:
Chapter 1 is a slightly revised reprint of: Wim J.C. Weren, “The Macrostructure
of Matthew’s Gospel: A New Proposal,” Biblica 87 (2006): 171−200.
Chapter 2 is a completely revised reprint of: Wim J.C. Weren, “Children in
Matthew: A Semantic Study,” Concilium. International Journal of Theology 32 /2
(1996): 53−63.
Chapter 4 is a thoroughly extended version of: Wim J.C. Weren, “Human Body
and Life beyond Death in Matthew’s Gospel,” Pages 267−283 in The Human
Body in Death and Resurrection (eds. Tobias Nicklas, Friedrich V. Reiterer, and
Joseph Verheyden; Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature: Yearbook 2009;
Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, 2009). See also: www.degruyter.com.
Chapter 6 is a slightly revised reprint of: Wim J.C. Weren, “The Five Women in
Matthew’s Genealogy,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 59 (1997): 288−305.
Chapter 7 is an improved and slightly extended reprint of: Wim J.C. Weren,
“Quotations from Isaiah and Matthew’s Christology (Mt 1,23 and 4,15−16),”
Pages 447−465 in Studies in the Book of Isaiah: Festschrift Willem A.M. Beuken
(eds. Jacques van Ruiten and Marc Vervenne; BETL 132; Leuven, University
Press and Peeters, 1997).
Chapter 8 is an English translation of the completely revised version of:
Wim J.C. Weren, “Ehe, Ehebruch und Ehescheidung: Interpretationen alttes-
tamentlicher Texte in Matthäus 5,27−32 und 19,3−12,” Pages 116−134 in Für die
Freiheit verantwortlich: Festschrift für Karl-Wilhelm Merks zum 65. Geburtstag
(ed. Jan Jans; Freiburg, CH: Academic Press / Fribourg: Paulus Verlag, 2004).
Chapter 9 is a slightly revised reprint of: Wim J.C. Weren, “Jesus’ Entry into
Jerusalem: Matthew 21,1−17 in the Light of the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint,”
Pages 117−141 in The Scriptures in the Gospels (ed. Christopher M. Tuckett; BETL
131; Leuven: University Press and Peeters, 1997).