The Halakhah of Jesus of Nazareth according to the Gospel of Matthew (Studies in Biblical Literature)

291 Pages·2007·1.93 MB·English

by  Phillip Sigal

the halakhah of jesus of nazareth
according to the gospel of matthew
studies in Biblical literature
number 18
The halakhah of jesus of nazareth
according to the gospel of matthew
the halakhah of jesus of nazareth
according to the gospel of matthew
by
phillip sigal
society of Biblical literature
atlanta
the halakhah of jesus of nazareth
according to the gospel of matthew
copyright © 2007 by lillian sigal
all rights reserved. no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
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should be addressed in writing to the rights and permissions office, society of Biblical
literature, 825 houston mill road, atlanta, ga 30329 usa.
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
sigal, phillip.
The halakhah of jesus of nazareth according to the gospel of matthew / by phillip
sigal.
p. cm. — (society of Biblical literature studies in biblical literature ; no. 18)
includes bibliographical references and indexes.
isBn: 978-1-58983-282-4 (paper binding : alk. paper)
1. Bjesus christ—teachings. 2. divorce—Biblical teaching. 3. sabbath—Biblical
teaching. 4. Bible. n.t. matthew—criticism, interpretation, etc. 5. jewish law. 6. jesus
christ—Views on jewish law. i. title.
Bs2415.s55 2007b
226.2'06—dc22 2007020485
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
printed in the united states of america on acid-free, recycled paper
conforming to ansi/niso z39.48-1992 (r1997) and iso 9706:1994
standards for paper permanence.
contents
introduction, by Lillian Sigal ix
Brought forth, newly adorned, by Saul (Simcha) Prombaum xiii
foreword, by Eugene J. Fisher xvii
preface xxi
abbreviations xxiii
1. introduction 1
1.1. Thesis 1
1.2. aspects of earlier scholarship 12
1.2.1. how some scholars see matthew’s
perspective on jesus 12
1.2.2. understanding “the law” 15
1.2.3. The love command factor 21
1.2.4. The meaning of matthew 5:17–20 24
1.3. recapitulation and projection 27
1.3.1. recapitulation 27
1.3.2. projection 28
1.3.2.1. premises 28
1.3.2.2. sources 28
1.3.2.3. methodology 29
1.4. The chapter sequence 29
2. stages in the formation of rabbinic halakhah 33
2.1. preexilic origins 33
2.2. preexilic diversity and postexilic retrenchment
to the hasmonean era 36
2.2.1. 587 b.c.e. to the nehemiah reformation 36
2.2.2. from ezra-nehemiah to the known proto rabbis 38
2.2.3. The great assembly 40
2.2.4. The second century b.c.e. 43
2.3. from earliest proto-rabbis to the era of jesus 47
2.3.1. The early “fathers” 47
2.3.2. a historical resume 55
2.4. summary 59
vi contents
3. proto-rabbinic halakhic activity 61
3.1. factors in reinterpretation and innovation of halakhah 61
3.1.1. proto-rabbinic authority 61
3.1.2. on dating rabbinic texts 66
3.2. a profile of proto-rabbinic halakhic premises 69
3.2.1. religio-humanitarian concerns in halakhah 69
3.2.2. The historical factor 76
3.2.3. hermeneutics and exegesis 78
3.2.4. The tendency toward leniency 87
3.2.5. The principle of Lifnim Meshurat Hadin 93
3.3. summary 97
4. The matthean jesus and the halakhah of divorce 105
4.1. general overview 105
4.2. matthew 5:32 and 19:9 and the meaning of Porneia 117
4.3. matthew 5:17–19 and the divorce pericopae 125
4.4. divorce in postpentateuchal sources 127
4.4.1. elephantine 127
4.4.2. ezra and nehemiah 128
4.4.3. The apocrypha and pseudepigrapha 130
4.4.4. philo 131
4.4.5. Qumran 135
4.5. summary 140
5. The matthean jesus and the sabbath halakhah 145
5.1. general overview 145
5.2. plucking, picking and/or rubbing grain on the
sabbath (matthew 12:1–8) 155
5.3. healing on the sabbath (matthew 12:9–13) 165
5.4. pentateuchal and extrapentateuchal sabbath halakhah 172
5.4.1. The pentateuch 172
5.4.2. The prophets 173
5.4.3. The writings 173
5.4.4. The Book of jubilees 174
5.4.5. philo 177
5.4.6. Qumran: The zadokite fragment 180
5.5. summary 185
6. summary and conclusions 187
6.1. summary 187
6.2. conclusions 191
contents vii
epilogue: twenty Years after sigal: jesus as proto-rabbinic teacher
of halakhah, by Thomas Kazen 195
jesus within judaism 195
who is matthew’s jesus? 198
who were the proto-rabbis? 200
jesus as halakhic teacher 202
The dialogue continues 206
Bibliography 207
Bibliography 213
index of ancient sources 227
hebrew Bible/old testament 227
apocryphal/deuterocanonical Books 231
pseudepigrapha 231
dead sea scrolls 232
new testament 233
philo 235
josephus 236
mishnah 237
tosefta 239
Babylonian talmud 240
jerusalem/palestinian talmud 243
targums 244
other rabbinic literature 245
other 246
index of authors 247
index of proper and place names 251
index of greek and hebrew words 255
index of subjects 259

introduction
Lillian Sigal
in a personal and intellectual journal encompassing his life from 1942 until
his death in 1985, my husband phillip sigal described himself as “one aspir-
ing human being seeking truth and the way of god.” That simple statement
epitomizes the ethos of his life and was a major motivation for his writing
this book. his search for truth, he wrote, led him to strive for “flexible tran-
scendence of denomination and the amalgamation of ideals and ‘embracing’
posture for halakha.”
phillip’s spiritual odyssey spanned virtually the entire range of the
jewish religious spectrum: from hasidic and non-hasidic ultra-orthodox,
through modern orthodox and conservative judaism, to a form of juda-
ism that transcended denominationalism and sought rapprochement with
christianity. That transcending posture was modeled for him as early as his
Bar mitzvah in a hasidic shtiebel (synagogue) in toronto, where he was born
and bred. he records in his journal how his teacher, the esteemed lithu-
anian non-hasidic orthodox rabbi kamenetsky, surprised the congregants
when he entered the shtiebel and was greeted and embraced by the venerable
galician hasidic rabbi weinrib. The coming together of these two rabbis
represented the meeting of two groups that had been feuding furiously for
generations.
in his preface to the original publication of this book, phillip traces his
interest in jesus to various factors, beginning with his undergraduate college
years. i believe, however, that his journal reveals his earlier affinities with the
galilean sage. he writes, for example, that as a child he had an intimation
of his destiny in a remarkable dream. he dreamed that he stood before a
mirror and observed reflected in it, much to his amazement and bewilder-
ment, the image of jesus of nazareth. The precise meaning of that dream still
remains a mystery to me. nevertheless, in this brief introduction, i would
like to suggest some clues by highlighting aspects of phillip’s spiritual jour-
ney that indicate an evolving religio-humanitarian disposition similar to that
of jesus.
-ix-