Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Virgin Monk Boy's avatar

This is sharp work, John. I agree, Matthew practically screams “new Exodus” for anyone with Torah in their bones. From Herod as Pharaoh to the mountain sermons, the echoes aren’t subtle.

The part that intrigues me most is your closing question. Did Jesus see himself through Moses’ lens, or did the gospel writers retrofit the type? My hunch: both. A prophet on the margins will always reach for ancestral scripts, and a community preserving his memory will polish those parallels until they shine.

Either way, the typology works. Moses split the sea. Jesus split open the imagination. Both fed the hungry in the wilderness, both gave their faces to the fire, both called a people out of slavery in different kinds of chains.

Blessed be the ones who notice the rhymes across history and refuse to dismiss them as accidents.

Expand full comment
PJK's avatar
Sep 9Edited

Your write up is on point. However let us remember that Mark (as opposed to Mathew) originally models his epic myth on Yahweh (starts off with Prepare the way for Yahweh/LORD as in Isaiah 40:3). He also attributes Jesus to have numerous traits of Yahweh (I wrote about this on one of your earlier posts).

No one really talks about this but it is clear in the following passage:

“While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’ “David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?” And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭35‬-‭37‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/mrk.12.35-37.NRSVUE

Look at Psalm 110:

“The LORD says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭110‬:‭1‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/psa.110.1.NRSVUE

Here Mark is saying- How Can the Messiah be David’s son when he is also called LORD (YHWH)!

But the question is WHY does Mark portray Jesus as Yahweh? Did Yahweh ever say he would come down to earth as Messiah?! YES!

“Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts shall be called the holy mountain. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They shall be my people and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.” the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Come, let us go to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’ ””

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭8‬:‭3‬, ‭7‬-‭8‬, ‭21‬-‭23‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/zec.8.3-23.NRSVUE

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. On that day the Lord their God will save them, for they are the flock of his people, for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land.”

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭9‬:‭9‬-‭10‬, ‭14‬, ‭16‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/zec.9.9-16.NRSVUE

“On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mount shall withdraw northward and the other half southward. And you shall flee by the valley of the Lord’s mountain, for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal, and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him. And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one. Then all who survive of the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Festival of Booths. If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain upon them.”

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭14‬:‭4‬-‭5‬, ‭9‬, ‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/zec.14.4-17.NRSVUE

So Mathew’s rehash of Marks Epic story has more “Moses” only to express that the incarnate Yahweh (Jesus means Yahweh the saviour) wishes to Redo or supersede the Torah- esp after the Temple has been destroyed.

But if Jesus is Yahweh, who is his “Father”?! It is The most high God (El Elyon.

“and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/mrk.5.7.NRSVUE

This is consistent with the philosophy of the Dead Sea scrolls which show Deuteronomy 32:8 as the Most High (El Elyon) dividing the nations and giving Yahweh his portion as Israel (Yahweh is Israel’s god and Israel belongs to no other beside him- consistent with the Sh’ma).

The earliest Christians expected Yahweh to come as king- explaining:

“The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭15‬:‭26‬ ‭NRSVUE‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/3523/mrk.15.26.NRSVUE

This is also consistent with Philo and Paul- I can give examples if interested

Expand full comment
2 more comments...

No posts