Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Matthew: Jesus is the Embodiment of Torah

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The Greek word translated "genealogy" at the beginning of Matthew's gospel is the same word for "genesis" translated from the LXX in Genesis 2:4. Matthew uses apocalyptic imagery to reveal Jesus is the new genesis of creation as well as the fulfillment of OT promises and prophecies.

Jesus is greater than Jonah and Solomon (12:41-42) and even greater than the temple itself (12:6). The Torah says the Shekinah glory of God is present among two who study the Torah (Mishnah, Avot 3.2, 6). Jesus very presence embodies the Torah when he says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them" (18:20).

Matthew's last supper scene has intertextual connections to Ex.24 of the covenant banquet and the messianic promise of deliverance found in Zechariah 9. When the crowd later cries out to Pilate "His blood be on us and our children" and Pilate washes his hands of "this man's blood" in Matthew 27, these are not statements of condemnation of the Jewish people but following the promise of Zechariah, is to secure their liberation and salvation that goes all the way back to the beginning of Matthew's gospel, "He will save his people from their sins" (Matt.1:21).

Throughout Matthew's gospel Jesus is portrayed as the embodiment of both Israel and the Torah. The messiah is a sufferer like Israel and the Messiah is like the Torah where God's presence is with His people. The same language of "I am with you" in Matthew 28:20 is identical to Haggai 1:13. Jesus is Emmanuel, "God with us."


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