Jesus, "Son of David" in Matthew's Gospel and The Messianic Background of Early Christology

260 Pages·2013·8.79 MB·English

by  Richard Van Egmond

McMaster Divinity College
Jesus, "Son of David" in Matthew's Gospel
and
The Messianic Background of Early Christology
A Thesis Submitted for the Master of Theological Studies Degree
By
Richard Van Egmond
Hamilton, ON
May, 2004
MASTER OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES McMASTER UNIVERSITY
Hamilton, Ontario
TITLE: Jesus, "Son of David" in Matthew's Gospel
and the Messianic Background of Early Christology
AUTHOR: Richard Van Egmond
SUPERVISOR: Stanley Porter
NUMBER OF PAGES: 253
McMASTER DIVINITY COLLEGE
Upon the recommendation of an oral examination committee and vote of the faculty, this thesis-project by
Richard Van Egmond
is hereby accepted in partial fulfJlment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Theological Studies
eader and Advisor
Second Reader
External Reader
Date: March 11, 2004
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ..............................................................................v
Chapter
1. Introduction ..................................................................... 1
2. The Origins of Christology and Messianism
2.1 Historical Jesus Research
In Search of a Category: Proposals from Schweitzer to
Allison .....................................................................6
New Directions in Methodology: .................................... 8
Jesus as Messiah ....................................................1 4
Defining the Christology of Jesus ................................ 15
2.2 Contemporary Assessments of the Origins of Christology
............................................................................2 0
A Suffering Messiah, Atonement and Jesus'
Self-Understanding .................................................. 20
The Beginnings of Christology ....................................2 4
Martin Hengel: The Enthronement of the Messiah ......... 28
Tomi Eskola: Messiah and Throne .............................. 31
Conclusion .......................................... '" ................ 39
3. Sacral Kingship in the Ancient Near East and IsraeL ................. 41
The Religious Function and Cultic Role of Kings in the
Ancient Near East. ................................ '" .............. .41
11
Early Stages in the Development of Sacral Kingship in Israel .............. .49
The Transition to Kingship In Israel ................................................. 53
The Israelite New Year's Festival and the Role of the King .................. 57
The Cultic Role of the Israelite King ................................................ 64
Desacralization, Corporate Responsibility and Israelite Kingship
................................................................................................6 7
Conclusions ..................... '" ... '" ................................................. 73
V 4. Israel's Kingship and Yahweh's Covenant With David ........................ 76
The Context of II Samuel .................................................... 76
The Davidic Covenant in Recent Studies ................................. 82
The Portrayal of the Davidic Covenant in I Chronicles ............... 93
The Significance of the Davidic Covenant in the Psalms ............ 95
Development of the Davidic Covenant in Prophetic Literature .... 10 8
Conclusions ..................................................................... 131
5. The Development of the Messianic Figure in Judaism ....................... 135
Tracing the Beginnings of the Messianic Hope ....................... 135
Assessments of the Significance and Extent of Messianism ..... 139
Messianism and the Literature of Early Judaism ..................... 147
Primary Motifs in Messianic Expectation in Judaism ................ 153
Messianism in the Dead Sea Scrolls ..................................... 168
\1/ The Messiah as a Davidic King ............................................ 174
Conclusions ..................................................................... 185
1ll
6. The Suffering Davidic King in the Matthean Passion Narrative ............ 187
The Use of Messianic Motifs in Matthean Texts ...................... 187
The Development of Christology in Matthew's Passion Narrative
.....................................................................................2 02
Matthew's Passion Narrative: The Royal Messiah as A
Suffering and Vindicated Figure .......................................... 209
The Suffering of the Son of David: A Broader Theme .............. 227
Conclusion ......................................................................2 32
Works Cited .....................................................................................2 37
IV
Acknowledgements
Completing a study of this kind has provided me with an opportunity to
reflect on the contributions of many previous writers on this topic, and made me
keenly aware of being indebted to their understanding and insights. My first
interest in this topic began as an undergraduate at Calvin College in Grand
Rapids, Michigan in the classes of Dr. David Holwerda, from whom I learned much
as a student in two New Testament classes in the early 1980's. More recently,
Old Testament courses with Dr. Claude Cox (McMaster Divinity) and Dr. Bruce
Gardner (University of Aberdeen) challenged me to pay more attention to the
development of various traditions within Judaism, while New Testament courses
with both Dr. Richard Longenecker and Dr. Stan Porter at McMaster Divinity
College allowed for further investigation of the relationship between the
emergence of early Christology, Judaism and the ongoing inquiry into the problem
of the historical Jesus. I am especially appreciative of Dr. Porter's advice and
help as the advisor for this thesis. His numerous suggestions and comments
along the way were extremely helpful and his willingness to go over the details of a
lengthy manuscript on several occasions was invaluable. I also benefited greatly
from the comments of Dr. Mark Boda, who provided a very helpful review of the
work. If any omissions or weaknesses in the argument remain, the responsibility
is completely my own.
I should also acknowledge the support of the Board of Directors and
administration at Hamilton Christian High School in Ancaster, Ontario where I
v
teach. Their support for ongoing professional development has provided valued
encouragement. I count myself very fortunate to work with a knowledgeable,
dedicated, and capable group of colleagues whose dedication to their craft have
taught me a great deal.
Finally, I must express my thanks to both my children ---Jeremy, Sonja,
Jonathan and Michael --- and my wife, Debbie for their patience and
understanding while I spent time researching and writing over the past two years.
Undoubtedly, there were many more hours involved in this project than any of
them anticipated. Their willingness as a family to accommodate the changes in my
schedule during that time has been humbling, and lowe them a large debt of
gratitude. They are together -- in every respect -- God's greatest earthly gift to me,
and to them this work is dedicated.
VI
1
1. Introduction
"Jesus the Messiah." This common title for Jesus of Nazareth may at first
glance seem to many to be uncontroversial and obvious in its meaning. Yet the
title is nevertheless suggestive in many ways of the complexity of the situation in
which it arose, as ongoing study of the historical setting of Jesus' life continues to
illustrate. In many other ways than might first be apparent, the title involves a
more complicated assertion of identity and meaning. There are two aspects in
the ongoing inquiry into the historical Jesus in particular which are significant in
current study around the topics this description of Jesus suggests. One aspect
of this inquiry is determining the contours of Jewish messianic belief during the
time in which the life of Jesus took place and in which the early Christian church
emerged. A second, and by no means unrelated issue, is the possibility of
ascertaining Jesus' sense of his own mission and task in terms of messianic
categories.
Determining the relationship between these two concerns leads to at least
two further questions. If Jewish messianism is, at the very least, an important
part of the context within which many of the writings of the New Testament
understand the teachings and actions of Jesus, how important a factor was
messianism in providing a matrix for explicating Jesus' identity and
accomplishments for early Christians? A further question is also suggested: to
what degree was messianism also a part of Jesus' self- understanding and
awareness of vocation?
2
Several new and important studies of the development and origins of
Jewish messianism have emerged,1 allowing for a much more nuanced
reconstruction of this aspect of Judaism to emerge. This study will set out to
determine to what degree a prominent element in the expectations of Judaism -
that of a Davidic messianic figure-can be discerned in the depiction of Jesus of
Nazareth in the Gospel of Matthew. It seems very likely that certain lines of
continuity between the judaism of the 151 century and the reflections of early
Christians about Jesus are discernible.2 The first Gospel, which bears many
traces of being addressed to an audience made up at least partly of Jewish
Christians, provides numerous resources for examining these two questions.
Here several initial observations should be made. While messianism3 is
clearly a concern for Matthew, who introduces Jesus as the "the Christ, the son
of David" at the outset of his gospel (Matthew 1:1) and portrays him as a royal
Messiah throughout his work, it may of course be possible that the messianic
presentation of Jesus is a Matthean depiction only. However, a number of recent
studies suggest otherwise.4 The importance of Messianic perspectives in
For a list of some of these titles, see Chapter 4, n. 378.
I
2 Here I am indebted to the insight of N.T. Wright, who has argued that a "double similarity" is
evident between the worldview of Judaism on the one hand, and the worldview of early
Christianity on the other which is best explained by the person of Jesus. See his Jesus and the
Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996).
3 A distinction should be noted between the broader expectation of a messianic figure (i.e.
prophet, priest, king, heavenly being) who would emerge to lead Israel at the time of God's
salvation, and the expectation of a Messiah as a king in the Davidic line who would establish
God's kingdom and restore Israel. See Raymond E. Brown "A Brief History of the Development
of a Royal Messianic Hope in Israel," Appendix I, in An Introduction to New Testament
Christology(New York: Paulist Press, 1994), 155.
4 Edward P. Meadors contends that the proposed source Q, one of Matthew's primary resources
which he apparently shares with Luke, presents Jesus with numerous messianic features. See