Everything Written About Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets

“All four evangelists . . . constructs a picture of Jesus death not in terms of an angry father lashing out at an innocent and defenseless son, but in terms of someone embodying the love of God himself, acting as the personal expression of that love all the way to his death.”

- N. T. Wright

Matthew more than any other Gospel, aims at showing how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah. In chapter two, he start with Jesus fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem referring to Micah 5:2 and extends his own rabbinic commentary that God promises through the prophets that God himself will shepherd his people Israel (2 Sam.2:7; Jer.23:1-8; Ezek.34; Zech.10:2-12) in his own added line, “who will shepherd my people Israel.”

          Matthew quotes and uses so many Old Testament references, I will focus here on Matthew 2:23 since this is one of the most difficult and obscure biblical references in the Bible. Biblical commentators have searched in vain trying to find an exact reference to Matthew’s cryptic words concerning the prophets and the Messiah, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

            What we do know is the term “Nazareth” was used as a derogatory term in the first century. Historically, Nazareth housed a Roman garrison which could be another reason why the book of Acts uses this term as a slur against the early Christians (Acts 24:5). What Matthew seems to be doing is connecting the idea, not as specific text of the earlier Hebrew prophets that the Messiah would be a rejected and despised person (Psalm 22:6-8; 69:8, 20-21; Isaiah 11:1; 49:7; 53:2-3, 8; Dan.9:26). Even Nathanael when he first hears about Jesus exclaims, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).

          All this intrigue and mystery leads up to the arrest of Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of ancient prophesy of rejection and desertion by the Messiah’s disciples. Jesus is all alone. Matthew says again, “But all this has taken place that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled (26:56). For Matthew, sharing echoes and ideas of what the prophets taught about the Messiah was just as significant as if he quoted directly from them from the Old Testament. This should capture our own imagination and sanctified imaginations of engaging with the ideas and whispers of Scripture in more creative ways than simply citing a verse and chapter from the written Word.

          Luke brilliantly shares this formula in a different way by Jesus giving the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and ends it in verses 29-31 with these words spoken by Abraham,

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he (the rich man) said to him, “’No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

I find it terribly strange when so many people want to use a parable, a figurative story that usually has one or two points and the details are typically not significant to teach as the clearest description in the Bible by some Christians as the definitive teaching on the doctrine of hell. This story is about stewardship and compassion on the poor and not the details of the after life. The main thrust is how we live our life now has consequences and yes, even judgment in the afterlife, but none of this is to be taken literally or prescriptively in how this all works out in the end.

          What is also missed in this parable is the subtle allusion to resurrection at the end of this parable. This is significant since Jesus own resurrection was going to be taking place soon after this event. Jesus point, is if we don’t listen or follow what the Law and Prophets teach us from God’s Word, neither will one believe in the powerful witness of the resurrection which was about to soon take place. Even Jesus own disciples would not believe at first and it took several eye-witnessed accounts of Jesus appearing and reappearing to his disciples before they fully believed he had risen from the dead.

          This all leads to another resurrection appearance by Jesus to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. He tells them how slow of hearing they are to believe of what the prophets have spoken (Luke 24:25). Jesus affirmed and fulfilled the message of the prophets and just as many of them were persecuted and murdered, so will the Messiah. He finally says,

And beginning with Moses and the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk.24:7).

All of Scripture is to be interpreted through Christ and is about Christ. The early church knew how do to this and this has become a lost art of understanding the Bible today.   All of Scripture, both testaments all point to Jesus. If we miss that, we miss the primary purpose and meaning of what the whole Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Newer Testament is trying to teach us.