Biblical Intertextuality

This is an annotated bibliography on important intertextual works. After this bibliography is given, an extensive general bibliography is also included. For interpreters, especially biblical interpreters intending to work on the subject or use intertextuality as their approach, this may be a useful tool.

R. Joel Kennedy’s, “The Recapitulation of Israel: Use of Israel’s History in Matthew 1:1–4:11” explains the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament in Matthew 1:1–4:11 in terms of recapitulation. Israel’s history is restated in the life of Jesus within Matthew’s narrative progressing Matthew’s Christology. According to Kennedy, the recapitulation of Israel’s history in Matt 1:1–4:11 is seen in the genealogy (1:1–17), the birth narrative (2:1–23) and the baptism narrative (3:1–4:11). Fitting Kennedy’s thesis is an instance of intertextuality between Matt 3:1 and Judg 21:25. In Matt 3:1, the phrase, “In those days,” Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις alludes to Judg 21:25 “In those days,” Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις, in order to recapitulate the summation of Israel’s need for a king in the days of the Judges, “in those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg 16:7; 17:1; 19:1; 21:25). This intertextual allusion has the effect of saying, “at this time” Israel needed a king just as they did during the era of the Judges. Rather than saying “at that time,” Matthew uses the unique construction Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις in order to allude to Judg 21:25 “in those days.” Richard Hays’ standard criteria for detecting intertextuality substantiate the identification, interpretation, and significance of this allusion to the Old Testament. This intertextual allusion augments the significance of Christ as King in Matthew and clarifies what some understand to be a textual awkwardness.

This article draws upon a reader-response and canonical-hermeneutical perspective in order to analyze the manner in which 2 Sam 22 and Ps 18 are embedded in their respective literary contexts. Psalm 18’s superscription functions both to guide the interpretation of the following psalm as well as evoke its “Doppelgänger” in 2 Sam 22 (and “behind” it the Song of Moses in Deut 32,1-43). It not only contains a prayer articulated in a situation of distress, as a song of thanksgiving it also retrospectively witnesses to divine acts of salvation that have an abiding validity. This analysis demonstrates that the intertextual reading of biblical texts as a significant moment of the “canon” is not a secondary imposition upon these texts from the outside.

The article surveys recent scholarship on the use of creation imagery in the Gospel of John, with the aim of presenting rather exhaustive register of possible references. Both the obvious and the less clear-cut allusions to Gen 1–3 are discussed, the main focus being to accumulate and assess evidence (for or against) all the apparent references to creation imagery. Included in this examination are several unconvincing and even far-fetched proposals advanced by some modern scholars, in order to give the fullest possible picture of current discourse on these issues. After discussing the creation theme in the Prologue (1:1–18), the article explores the presence of creation imagery in the Book of Signs (1:19–12:50) and the Book of Glory (13:1–21:25)

Este trabalho propõe uma análise textual, levando em consideração a relação entre a forma e o conteúdo da perícope de Isaías 12:1-6, tendo como base de pesquisa o texto da BH  (Bíblia Hebraica). Em um primeiro momento será verificado a divisão do escopo, em seguida será dado um breve pano de fundo do livro de Isaías, buscando entender como a perícope se encaixa com o resto do livro; depois será desenvolvida uma análise literária do texto, no que diz respeito a estrutura, expressões e palavras-chave; e por último se buscará por possíveis ligações intertextuais de Isaías 12 com outras partes da BH.

Psalm 78 contains the greatest number of uses of the hiphil verb stem in the Hebrew Psalter. Most uses are causatives which can emphasise arguments that were originally oblique or elliptical and also demote or omit arguments in the original clause. This study explores clauses with hiphil tokens in Psalm 78 in light of possible inner-biblical allusions. It is argued that the hiphil form is used in Psalm 78 as a syntactic tool to emphasise divine intervention in key biblical-historical events. God's activity is set in the foreground of the psalm by reporting divine acts in the third person through the divine authority of the opening first-person narrator. The use of the hiphil stem corresponds in most cases with the setting of God as subject, often by substituting human actors and syntactic demotion of inanimate objects as divine instruments. This literary technique of divine subject substitution is used to highlight the faithfulness of God in the past as grounds for the divine indictment against the unfaithful generations of Israel. There is also some evidence of reverse subject substitution such that divine hope for Judah and the mission of God's people is vested in the Davidic shepherd.

[Jesus Writing on the Ground (John 8,6.8): A Survey of Research on the Content of the Writing, the Meaning of the Act and the Literacy of Jesus]

The article offers a glimpse into the wide spectrum of scholarly analysis concerning three basic issues connected with Jesus’ writing as reported in John 8,6.8. First, the article surveys the question of the content of Jesus’ writing. Despite the complete absence of an actual text, many authors over time have provided a plethora of possible, but hypothetical proposals as to what words Jesus might have written. Secondly, moving beyond the hypothetical content of the writing, the article reviews various suggestions concerning the meaning of Jesus’ action, that is, the very fact that Jesus was writing. Finally, the article deals with the question of the literacy of Jesus and Ch. Keith’s suggestion that this pericope adulterae, as a third century interpolation to the text of John’s Gospel, was created in order to meet the Church’s need for literate leaders.

Drawing inspiration from the widely recognized parody of Ps 8:5 in Job 7:17–18, this study inquires whether other allusions to the Psalms might likewise contribute to the dialogue between Job, his friends, and God. An intertextual method that incorporates both “diachronic” and “synchronic” concerns is applied to the sections of Job and the Psalms in which the intertextual connections are the most pronounced, the Job dialogue and six psalms that fall into three broad categories: praise (8, 107), supplication (39, 139), and instruction (1, 73). In each case, Job’s dependence on the Psalms is determined to be the more likely explanation of the parallel, and, in most, allusions to the same psalm appear in the speeches of both Job and the friends. The contrasting uses to which they put these psalms reflect conflicting interpretive approaches and uncover latent tensions within them by capitalizing on their ambiguities. They also provide historical insight into the Psalms’ authority and developing views of retribution. The dialogue created between Job and these psalms indicates the concern the book has with the proper response to suffering and the role the interpretation of authoritative texts may play in that reaction.

O presente artigo tem como objeto o texto considerado apócrifo, conhecido tanto como Evangelho de Nicodemos quanto Atos de Pilatos. Os indícios a respeito do texto apontam que a versão que chegou a nós foi escrita entre o séc. 4 ou 5 da EC. A análise procurará mostrar de que forma esse texto faz parte da rede textual do Cristianismo Primitivo, especialmente em sua relação com os evangelhos canônicos. Para isso serão utilizados os conceitos de memória coletiva, intertextualidade e estética da recepção como formas de compreender essa relação, que será demonstrada por meio da análise sinótica de alguns textos. Neste processo de recepção o Evangelho de Nicodemos tornou-se uma testemunha das reelaborações dos materiais tradicionais, voltado para a prática popular do cristianismo antigo e medieval.

One of the most difficult citations in Ephesians is the use of the Psalms 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8, because of interpretive problems in it. Some scholars argue that Paul had inserted his own word “εδωκεν” than the original word “έλαβες “and caused intertextuality problem as well. My thesis is that Paul did not misquote the Psalms 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8 but emphasize its application in the view of scriptural warrant for Christ’s giving of gifts to the Church. Basically I am seconding the argument of Timothy G. Gombis who has proved that “the writer of Ephesians quotes Ps. 68:18 (MT 68:19; LXX 67:19) in Eph.

The imagery and detail of John 18.1-21.25 imbue it with a number of important theological implications.  These include the concepts of substitutionary atonement, a new kingdom, a new power structure on the earth, and more besides.  In the present note, I discuss the extent to which our text depicts Jesus’ death and resurrection as the start of a new divine creation.  John’s narrative has a number of contact-points with Gen. 1.1-3.24, which cast it as a creation story, but not just any old creation narrative:  Jesus’ triumph in John’s ‘garden’ is set in deliberate contrast to Adam’s failure;  as such, it depicts a new redeemed creation as opposed to an old fallen creation.  New creation, then, is not an interpretation theme which must be superimposed on top of John’s narrative;  rather, it is an integral part of the plot and drama of John’s view of Christ’s crucifixion.

In his discussion with Nicodemus, Jesus compares his coming crucifixion to the incident of the bronze serpent (Jn.3:14 – 15).  The incident has deep literary-theological resonance that illuminates both the entirety of the Pentateuch and the Gospel of John, along with a very significant contribution by Isaiah.  Jesus' citation of the bronze serpent story from Numbers 21 reflects an intertextual, literary understanding of prior biblical texts, and becomes an organizing theme in John's Gospel.

What follows is an exploration of Luke 1.5-2.52’s flow and OT allusions.  In 1.5-2.52, Luke interweaves his account of John the Baptist’s appearance in Israel with Jesus of Nazareth’s appearance to great effect.  The two characters come face to face in ch. 3, at which point an old era in Israel’s history comes into contact with a new one.  Luke pays particularly close attention to the narratives of 1 Sam. 1-4 and Zech. 1-6, which portray the events of 1.5-2.52 as the inauguration of a new phase in ‘tabernacle history’.

Born in 1927, his early years were formed in a large part by the influence of his grandparents, to whom he often refers as inspiration for his novels and with whom he lived in the small village of Aracataca, Colombia. Out of this same town comes much of the inspiration for Macondo, the setting of his novel, Cien años de soledad (1967). 1 The life of García Márquez is very important to his writing, especially in the literary form of Cien años de soledad. The setting and characters of his novels come directly from the influence of his grandparents and his surroundings. Cien años de soledad can be considered the culmination of all the most important experiences and thoughts of his life. It was also his most influential piece in the literary world. In 1982 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature for this novel. 2 As Bell-Villanova points out in his biography of the man, "Al publicar Cien años de soledad, García Márquez se convierte repentinamente en figura principal del boom 3 ." Also, this novel has great historical importance. According to McMurray, "On an historical level, One Hundred Years of Solitude presents a vast synthesis of the social, economic, and political evils that have plagued much of Latin America since the revolt against Spanish rule early in the nineteenth century 4 ." It is clear that this novel speaks powerfully to the Latin American reality.

Dubbed ‘the ugly stepchild’ of the New Testament due to its alleged aporias, the lucidity of 2 Peter’s unique voice may be best perceived not with primary reference to extrabiblical Jewish or Hellenistic sources, nor even to Jude, but to scriptural wisdom reread in light of the Lord’s coming in the person of Jesus. Confronted with false teachers in the form of seductive, foolish ‘mockers’ (3:3), 2 Peter invokes Proverbs’ voice to exhort Christ-oriented wisdom attributes such as ἐπίγνωσις (‘knowledge’), εὐσέβεια (‘godliness’, ‘piety’) and ἀρετή (‘virtue’) so that God’s people remain on the true ὁδός (‘way’, ‘path’) of ζωή (‘life’). Though the controversial question of authorship will not be addressed directly in this essay, this ‘scriptural’ reading of 2 Peter might explain how one author could generate two distinct styles—each letter invokes different voices from God’s ‘living and enduring’ word, and each elegantly fit for purpose. First, the essay explains how 2 Peter leads us to examine Scripture and Proverbs most particularly, as a dominant influence. Second, texts from Proverbs 1–9 and 2 Peter are compared to suggest further examination may reveal significant resonance of structure, style and theological themes. To conclude, four questions raised in 2 Peter scholarship are cursorily addressed with a wisdom hermeneutic.

The introduction of the concept of intertextuality into the critical discourse in the late 1960s transformed the discussion of all kinds of literature, including biblical literature. 'Intertextuality' is currently a hot topic among biblical interpreters. When evaluating early Jesus traditions within the New Testament, the letters of James, First and Second Peter may not immediately come to mind. Instead, it is often materials from the gospels -and usually the Synoptic Gospels -that one thinks of first, as these narratives focus upon Jesus' life and teachings. In recent times, the Letters of James, Peter, Hebrews, and Jude have been given more attention, and close studies of rhetoric and intertextuality emerged in part through methodological advancements, have placed the presence and function of 'Jesus traditions' within these 'catholic' epistles under the microscope. Concentration on shared Jesus traditions also opens up questions about the roles of Judean and Graeco-Roman influences upon the sayings, portrayals, and memories of Jesus that are incorporated into subsequent literature. How do other traditions from the ancient context

There are many texts which, are to use M. Bakhtin's term, "in dialogue" with the "text of terror" that comprises Judges 19. There are many allusions to other texts in this story and it seems clear that the author was influenced by them. The most obvious and best known inter-text is that of Gen. 19, the story of Lot's offer to hand over his daughters to the angry men of Sodom to protect his guests, the angels from being molested by the mob.  But there are many more verbal echoes, such as "speak to her heart" (daber al lev) which link this text to others such as Gen. 34 and Hosea 2, or the knife (ma-achelet) used by Abraham in Gen. 22 or the outrage (nevala) referred to in the rapes of Dinah and Tamar in Gen. 34, and II Sam. 13. There are also thematic issues, such as hospitality, encouraging war, misogyny, which can be compared and contrasted and linked to this text. I plan to look at show that Judges 19 is not only a self-contained text but that when it dialogues with other texts, it gains new meaning as well as offering commentary on the inter-texts. I hope to show that the story of the Concubine of Gibeah which is often ignored (much as was Shakespeare's bloody, violent, play Titus Andronicus) is more than just an autonomous text because it is in an intertextual relationship to so many others. In deciding which texts borrow elements (story line, character, phrases, words, polemical ideas) from the other, we will also be learning about how this particular woman was "raped by the pen".

Unlike other comparison works between the Bible and the
Qurʾān, Reynolds makes his work proceed according to the Qurʾānic
order, as this method is thought to be beneficial for readers to
comprehend the structure and content of the Qurʾān. The Qur’ān
and The Bible is composed of two main parts: English translation of
verses and footnotes. The author uses the Qurʾān translation by Ali
Quli Qarai and qualifies it one of the best Qurʾān translations, as it
portrays the Qurʾānic meanings according to traditional Islamic
understandings (p. 7), and he refers to other translations when
necessary. The Qurʾān verses are accompanied by extensive
footnotes from the author. At the end of the book, there is a selective
primary and secondary bibliography, the length of which easily
proves the work’s comprehensive nature.

The purpose is to provide an exegesis and original translation of 1 Kings 22:16-23, with reference the broader literary context of the passage, and, the addition of an excurses on the question of the identity of "the spirit" in 1 Kings 22:21.

This paper is an intertextual exploration of the possible allusions to Isaiah 61:1-3 in Jesus' beatitudes in Matthew 5:3. What intertextual connections can be observe in these texts? First, those who are poor in spirit probably alludes to the materially impoverished who recognize God as their only hope, who appear in so many prophetic and wisdom passages and especially in Isa 61:1.18 For this reason Hagner went so far as to conclude that Isa 61:1 was “the basis” for Matt 5:3. Secondly, for Matthew what Isaiah pointed forward to in 61:1-2 had been fulfilled (cf. Luke 4). The year of the Lord had been inaugurated. The sufferings of the poor in spirit were being replaced with joyous enthusiasm for the King who had come to complete the tasks anticipated in the midst of Israel’s exile in the days of Isaiah.

O anúncio da queda de Babilônia pelos profetas Isaías e Jeremias são parte de um grupo de profecias que formaram o quadro escatológico que moldou a esperança de Israel para a era messiânica. Essa profecia (Is 21:9; Jr 51:8) é retomada em Apocalipse 18:2 em conjunto com uma série de outros textos proféticos e narrativos do Antigo Testamento. Ao estudar a relação entre o Apocalipse e o Antigo Testamento, esta pesquisa procura compreender como essas conexões textuais
informam a interpretação da queda de Babilônia em Apocalipse 18:1-8. Para tanto, a pesquisa lança-se ao estudo exegético da passagem incluindo também a análise intertextual. Procurando conjugar o conceito de “uso dialógico das escrituras” proposto por Moyise ao papel hermenêutico da profecia apocalíptica sobre a profecia clássica do Antigo Testamento, o estudo conclui com uma breve avaliação da
utilização da abordagem intertextual na exegese do Apocalipse e demonstra como as conexões intertextuais entre material canônico contribuem para uma interpretação segura do texto bíblico.

The Aramaic Ahiqar was found in Elephantine (Yeb) at a Persian military garrison and does not contain the notion of Yahwism found in the Hebrew Bible. Neither does it refer to Moses or the Torah, although the Egyptian diaspora would probably have had contact with a religious group from Jerusalem. Yet Ahiqar is similar in interesting ways to the Book of Job, which belongs to the Israelite wisdom corpus if we assume that the final form is approximately dated to the late Persian period. These two wisdom materials in the Achaemenid period have similar literary elements and, even more significantly, reflect common scribal views on humans and God(s), even though they were written in different places and in distinctive religious settings. Notably, Ahiqar interweaves Achaemenid imperial ideology with its story and proverbs and has a polytheistic view. This paper will present an intertextual study of Ahiqar and Job and argue that the diaspora scribes of Ahiqar in ancient Egypt broadly share more commonalities with the Jewish scribes of Job than any other biblical books.

The Day of Atonement was a day of rest, penitence, and purification for Israelites of loyal character. On this day, sins and impurities that had accumulated throughout the year were removed from the tabernacle by the application of sacrificial blood to its altars and compartments and transferred by the high priest’s confession onto the goat for Azazel, which carried them to the desert. Israel was thus rendered “clean” before the Lord, ensuring that he would continue to dwell in their midst. As it became ingrained in the veil of Jewish consciousness, the Day of Atonement underwent a process of reflection and reimagination as shown in Second Temple literature, where Azazel plays a significant eschatological ro le. Arriving in New Testament times, the day's imagery and typology presented irresistible motifs which its authors used to proclaim Jesus Christ's atoning death and heavenly intercession on behalf of believers. By utilizing a coherent intertextual approach, this book explores how John wove the Day of Atonement into the colorful literary tapestry of Revelation.

Zechariah has been used by the author of the Fourth Gospel to address one of the most important issues for both the early Church and first century AD Judaism: the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. The Johannine references to this prophecy served to express the revolutionary truth that there is a new temple, the body of Jesus, the King-Messiah, which is rebuilt by means of his resurrection. The same prophecy served to illustrate yet another dramatic truth: just as the eschatological Jerusalem Temple is the source of the outflow of paradisiac water, so this Temple-Messiah is the source of the re-creating Spirit. Thus, the main contribution of this study is to show the relevance of Zechariah for the Johannine christology and pneumatology, both centered around the idea of the Temple.

I explore Paul's understanding of the atonement and Jesus' relationship to the Law in the Sinai covenant. I argue that intertextuality and a canonical-literary approach to biblical exegesis (a la Brevard Childs) support Paul's claims in Romans 8:3 - 4 about the Sinai covenant and the sacrificial system. The paper supports Leander Keck's earlier work on Romans 8:3 - 4, and explains medical substitutionary atonement.

Intertextuality has been influential in the field of literary studies ever since Bulgarian philosopher Julia Kristeva coined the term in the late 1960s. This draft paper surveys major intertextual works, especially those related to New Testament interpretation.

In this article it is argued that the Qiblah passages in the Qur’an, which are commonly understood as referring to the direction of the prayer, are directly engaging with and interpreting the Shema passages in Deuteronomy and their Talmudic commentaries. By defining and applying the method of intertextual polysemy, nine points of intertextuality are identified between the various Qur’anic, Biblical, and Talmudic passages. Against this background, the article implies that narrations from traditional Qur’anic commentaries are lacking in their interpretation of these passages, since they do not employ any extra-Quranic contexts to explain their meaning. Through the method of intertextual polysemy, the alternative thesis propounded here is that the historical reference for the Qiblah passages is the Shema.

Pilate’s declaration ἰδοὺ ὁ ἄνθρωπος found in John 19:5 has given rise to a number of interpretations that seem in basic agreement, yet, at the same time, many others of a divergent and opposing nature. Among the many treatments of this verse is a whole set of proposals that see in Pilate’s words an allusion to various Old Testament texts. The present article aims at presenting the range of these scholarly interpretations (both older and modern ones) which resort to an Old Testament background for the famous ecce homo phrase. The article then focuses the discussion on Daniel’s “Son of Man”, the Isaianic “Suffering Servant”, the messianic “man” of Zec 6:12 and Num 24:17 (LXX), Adamic typology, the king of 1 Sm 9:17, and finally the figure of the bridegroom from the Song of Songs. In each case, an evaluation of the hypothetical Old Testament background is given. The author concurs with the idea of multiple intertextual Old Testament references encapsulated in Pilate’s ecce homo utterance.

The metaphor of the camel passing through the eye of the needle is found in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25) and the Qur'an (7:40). The Gospels seem to suggest that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Qur'an, on the other hand, puts the metaphor in the context of disbelievers who are arrogant (istakbarū) toward God's signs. At the outset, it would seem that the passage's contexts in the Gospels and the Qur'an are different; however, through a closer analysis of the keywords, there are textual parallels that can be extracted from both texts and go beyond simply the use of this analogy in common, as previous scholars have thought. For instance, the rich man in the Gospels is asking about inheriting eternal life, while the Qur'an also discusses eternal life and inheritance in the same context. These and several other textual parallels suggest that the Qur'an is alluding to the same context for the metaphor as the Gospels do.

Bible translators can be tempted to limit their focus to a specific verse. Better translators look more broadly and use insights from discourse grammar to ensure their translation coheres and flows naturally at the paragraph level and above. However, a translation can be more illuminating if it provides its audience with effective access to much of the intertextual context that the original authors likely expected of their audiences. This research develops principles from hermeneutics, literary and communication theory, and translation studies, and then proposes textual and paratextual strategies that can be used for almost any translation style and should especially benefit communities whose only resource is a print Bible.

The project includes an extensive PowerPoint that presents these principles and strategies in a pedagogically helpful way in tended for translation consultants and educators. The notes to the PowerPoint comprise the script for the audio-visual modules. Four slides contain links to brief video illustrations.

1 - The Illuminated Bible: Translating Intertextuality in Scripture
2 - Scripture Illuminating the Common Frame: Accessing contextual data
3 - Scripture Illuminating the Textual Frame: Hearing the dialogue
4 - Hermeneutical Considerations: Illumination without manipulation
5 - Textual Strategy: Representing markers that achieve relevance
6 - Paratextual Strategy: Contextual benefits worth pursuing
7 - The Way Forward: From theory to practice
8  - Bibliography

This draft addresses intertextuality in relation to the term's origin in post-structuralism and adaptation by biblical interpreters who are not poststructuralists. It addresses intertextuality's development inside and outside of biblical studies.  This  excerpt comes from a longer article entitled, "Ancient Midrash in the Age of Intertextuality,” in New Studies in Textual Interplay, ed. Craig A. Evans, B. J. Oropeza, and Paul T. Sloan; Studiesin Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity 20/Library of New Testament Studies 632 (London: T. & T. Clark,2020), 9-28. ISBN 978-0567-67897-3. The complete essay in this monograph is highly recommended.

The fulfillment of “the Scriptures” in John 17:12 has long been a bone of contention among commentators on the Fourth Gospel. The majority of authors have argued that ἡ γραφή unmistakably refers to a passage in the Hebrew Bible. Wendy Sproston (North) and Francis Moloney, however, picking up on an earlier observation by Edwin Freed, suggest Jesus’ own words as a more appropriate referent of ἡ γραφή in this verse. The issue of the correct scriptural referent is intrinsically connected with the question of the thematic referent within the verse in question. As it turns out, the fulfillment of the scripture can refer to either the tragic fate of Judas or the preserving of Jesus’ other disciples. The article surveys recent scholarship on these issues in order to identify the most convincing solutions.

In this paper I will examine Mark’s portrayal of Jesus as Messiah from the perspective of his use of composite references to Old Testament scripture. Composite references appear in strategic locations within Mark’s narrative and function as signposts to the divine significance of Mark’s story. The overarching motif of Mark’s composite references is that the Messiah is God’s kingly representative, appointed to accomplish God’s purposes on earth. With reference to Isa. 40/Mal. 3 in 1:2-3, Mark asserts that the Messiah’s appearance signifies God’s own return, “the embodiment of God’s presence.” Through the use of Ps. 2/Isa. 42 in 1:11, Mark claims that Jesus is chosen by God and has been anointed with the Holy Spirt to accomplish the work of God’s mighty deliverance. The reference to Is. 56/Jer. 7 in 11:17 shows that Mark believes an important task of the Messiah is to purify and rebuild the Temple, and it implies a scathing critique and a decisive condemnation of the existing religious leadership which mainly operated out of the Temple. The reference to Ps. 110/Dan. 7 in 14:62 depicts the Messiah as a highly exalted figure who will be enthroned alongside God, even sharing God’s authority and acting as his eschatological vizier who will have everlasting dominion over the whole world. These various messianic traditions are conflated and used to interpret Jesus’ life in innovative and unexpected ways that become the building blocks of a distinctively Markan Christology. [Originally published in Chinese]

Although Matthew’s Temptation Narrative contains valuable lessons for the Christian life in regard to avoiding temptation, I have argued that it is primarily a Christological text. Its purpose is to inform the reader about Jesus in relation to the broader themes in the gospel (e.g. Jesus and the Law, Jesus as the Teacher, Jesus in relation to Israel, etc.) I identified two specific functions of Matthew’s depiction of Jesus’ use of the Jewish Scriptures: 1) to establish a Jesus-Israel typology, and 2) to reinforce the portrayal of Jesus as the Teacher of Israel par excellence. First, the original contexts of the citations, as well as the larger context of Deut 6-8 enables the reader to clearly see the similarities between Jesus and Israel’s wilderness situation, as well as the contrasts in their responses to temptation. In addition to the other typologies that may exist in Matthew’s gospel (e.g. Jesus and Moses, Jesus and David, etc.), “Jesus and Israel” is also an appropriate and significant typology.  Through the concept of corporate solidarity, the parallels between Jesus’ temptations and Israel’s wilderness experience (Disobedience at the Wilderness of Sin, Testing God at Massah, the Golden Calf Incident), and relating the Temptation Narrative with Jesus’ baptism, I have argued that Matthew presents Jesus as the true “Son of God” that emerges victorious out from the wilderness approved and ready to do God’s work.  Jesus’ use of the Jewish Scriptures not only endorses the authority of the Law, but also embodies what the Law emphasizes: loyalty to God, especially in the face of uncertainty. 

Second, Jesus’ use of Scriptures emphasizes his worthiness to be the only one authorized Teacher of Israel. Not only does Jesus not quote Scripture knowledgeably and skillfully, his actions are consistent with his use of Scripture, unlike his Jewish opponents that comprise the scribal elite and do not practice what they teach. And unlike the Pharisees and Scribes, who practice their righteousness to be seen by others, Jesus reveals the authenticity of his righteousness through obedient acts of self-denial and trust in the wilderness. In the same way that Jesus is the Son of God, not only because God conferred to him a title but because he was also faithful to that calling, he is Israel’s one teacher because he is qualified for and deserving of such a task. Isaiah 48:1-2 laments that Israel has become “Israel-in-name” only but not “Israel-in-practice”: “Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. In fact, this theme is repeated in many other biblical texts.  In Matt 3:9, the Jews boast that they are Israelites who have Abraham as their ancestor, but John reminds warns them that being Israel-in-name is not enough. They must repent because “God is able to raise up children to Abraham” from the stones on the ground. The Temptation Narrative demonstrates that Jesus, which represents Israel, is truly the Son of God, “the Beloved one in whom God is well pleased” (3:17), not just in name but also in essence and praxis.

Este capítulo analisa a figura do falso profeta no texto do Apocalipse recorrendo ao pano de fundo do Antigo Testamento. Considerando a relação intertextual entre o Apocalipse e a Bíblia Hebraica, analisa as leis deuteronômicas para a identificação de um profeta falso e também as figuras de Balaão e Jezabel sugeridas pelo próprio autor como tipos para o falso profeta. Comparando o contexto antigo e o novo, estabelece o perfil de comportamento do falso profeta, o que o harmoniza com o símbolo da besta de dois chifres.

ISBN 978-65-80330-36-2

Several verses in the Book of Mormon are dependent on the Book of Malachi, although the traditional and academic dating of Malachi agrees that Malachi was written after the time the Book of Mormon describes the Nephite people left Jerusalem, ca 600 BCE. Past studies have largely been centered around either attacking or defending the Book of Mormon, with no discussion of taking seriously the themes and verbal connections between the King James Bible of Malachi and the Book of Mormon. This essay offers a close look at forty verses throughout the Book of Mormon and discusses their textual dependence on the King James Bible.

The intertextual approach compels us to read a text as a mosaic, as an interwoven framework of former related texts which give its meaning. The Books of the Chronicles, that give a closure to the Hebrew Bible, allow for this intertextual game, and their reading make us listen other voices and echoes from other texts, both inside and outside the Bible.

La intertextualidad nos empuja a mirar un texto como un mosaico, como una trama entretejida de otros textos anteriores con los que guarda relación y que le dan su sentido. Los libros de la Crónicas, con los que se cierra la Biblia hebrea, se prestan a este juego intertextual y su lectura nos obliga a escuchar también ecos y voces de otros textos dentro y fuera de la Biblia.

The historical-critical method that characterizes academic biblical studies remains often separate from approaches that stress the history of interpretation, which are employed most frequently in the area of Second Temple or Dead Sea Scrolls research.  This paper examines a test-case where the two methods mutually reinforce one another.  The law of vows in Deuteronomy 23:22-24 is difficult both in its syntax and in its legal content.  The difficulty is resolved once it is recognized that the law contains a previously unrecognized interpolation that disrupts the original coherence of the law.  However, once that interpolation was added and became accepted as part of the textual tradition, it created a “ripple effect” whereby Second Temple readers were forced to resolve the disruption in order to make sense of the text’s content and syntax.  The divergent reformulations of the law by Qoheleth 5:4–7, on the one hand, and 11QTemple 53:11–14, on the other, suggest that each of these independent witnesses sensed the textual disruption and sought to compensate for it.  The fact that each did so in a different way, while seeming to respond to the same textual “trigger,” appears to confirm the hypothesis of the interpolation.  In that way, the history of interpretation offers a window into the composition history of Deuteronomy’s law of vows.

Keywords
law of vows; intertextuality; inner-biblical exegesis; linguistic updating; protasis; conditional clauses; interpolation; Deut 23:22–24; Qoh 5:4–7; Eccl 5:4-7; 11QTemple 53:11–14; Temple Scroll; Numbers 30, Sipre Deuteronomy; Sifre; Matthew 5:33-37

The purpose of this paper is to show that sonship in the NT served as a metaphor for the OT concept of corporate solidarity. Part 1 explains the corporate anthropology of the OT authors and provides a definition of corporate solidarity. (The section also draws a distinction between corporate solidarity and other related concepts, such as corporate personality and corporate responsibility.) Part 2 surveys the relevance of corporate solidarity to NT interpretation generally and to passages about sonship specifically. Part 3 establishes that sonship in the NT served as a metaphor for likeness (or solidarity). Part 4 demonstrates through comparative study that NT sonship was a metaphor for corporate solidarity.

1 Sam. 28:3-25 has long been a controversial biblical narrative. This narrative-critical analysis suggests that readers may gain insight into its meaning by reading it within the context of the books of Samuel. I argue that 1 Sam. 25 and 28:3-25 share many common thematic and linguistic details which invite an intratextual comparison of the two narratives. In particular, the characters of Abigail and the medium of Endor, when read in light of each other and considering the characteristics of other adjacent chapters, as well as biblical representations of the practice of necromancy, predispose readers to be sceptical about the claims of the medium.

After comparing the three Synoptic adaptations of Isa 6:9-10, I conclude that the data supports Markan Priority but undermines the Two Document Hypothesis insofar as Matthew and Luke were independently composed. As far as whether Matthew or Luke had the “final say” on this passage, the evidence can be used to support both the Farrer Hypothesis or the Matthew Conflator Hypothesis. The direction of influence can go either way. Either Luke was a redactor who condensed Mark’s text while inserting Matthean influences, or Matthew was a conflator who enriched Mark’s text with help from Luke. Given Matthew’s stylized structure and arrangement of the “Double Tradition” traditionally regarded as Q outside this passage, I would lean towards Matthew as the final author because it makes more sense for Matthew to amplify the existing tradition with an identification of the Isaiah context, rather than for Luke to intentionally remove Matthew’s contributions while retaining Mark’s jumbled quotation. Furthermore, in light of Luke’s tendency elsewhere to separate, rather than conflate, his sources, it is more likely for Matthew to be the conflator. Finally, the “Q” material in Matthew’s text is also more fitting to the context than its location in Luke, perhaps pointing to the fact that Matthew was the final redactor and not Luke. However, within the limited scope of this particular passage, both options are possible.