1987 - Dale C. Allison - Jesus and Moses (Mt 5.1-2)

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DOI: 10.1177/001452468709800703

1987 98: 203The Expository TimesC. Allison, JR

Jesus and Moses (Mt 5:1-2)

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response of prayer to preaching. In the office, thiscan easily be achieved by having the sermon soonafter the collects and keeping the customary furtherprayers to follow the sermon. Justin suggests this

sequence in his description of worship as involvingreadings from the apostles memoirs or the

prophets,a discourse on these

bythe

president, andthen the prayers of the congregation (Apology i. 67).The pattern of the early church points towards anintegrating of the spirituality of scripture, preacher,congregation, and liturgy, into a spirituality ofpreaching.

This article was read as anAnglican contribution (as willat some points be evident) to a combined clergy school ofthe Manchester and Salford dioceses in September1985.1 See e.g. Explorations in Theology 1 (SCM [1977]), 106.2Cf. The New Testament as the ChurchsBook (Fortress[1972]), 44-63, though the actual phrase comes from a lec-ture Professor Marxsen gave in Nottingham some yearsago.3See e.g. L. E. Keck, The Bible in the Pulpit (Abingdon[1978]), 100-105.4 Eight Lectures on Preaching (1877; reprinted SPCK [1959]),5. Returning to this book recently reinforced my convic-tion that it remains the single best book on preaching.5 See W. W. Johnson, The Ethics of Preaching, Interpreta-tion 20 [1966], 425.6 See Keck, 53-54.7 See R. Bultmann, e.g. The New Testament and Mythologyand other basic writings (Fortress [1984]), 145-53.8 See J. Killinger,Fundamentals of Preaching (Fortress/SCM[1985]), 25-26.9 The Strange Silence of the Bible in the Church (Westminster/SCM [1970]), 163.10 See e.g. R. W. Funk, Language, Hermeneutic and Word ofGod(Harper [1966]).11 So F. H. Borsch, Gods Parable (SCM/Westminster[1975]).12 See D. Forrester, J. I. H. McDonald, and G. Tellini,Encounter with God (T. & T. Clark [1983]).13 Cf. P. A. Bird, The Bible as the Churchs Book

(Westminster [1982]).14 See Killinger, 24.15 Cf. J. -J. vonAllmen, Preachingand Congregation (Lutter-worth [1962]), 14-15.

Jesus and Moses (Mt 5:1-2)

BY DALE C.ALLISON, JR., PH.D.,SAINT PAUL SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

AND seeing the crowds he went up on the mountain,and when he sat down, his disciples came to him,

and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying...(Mt 5:1-2). Should these two verses, which lead offthe Sermon on the Mount, send our minds back toMoses and the revelation of the Torah on Mount

Sinai? Were they intended by their author, theevangelist Matthew, to make Jesus appear as a new

law-giver,the

counterpart ofthe old

law-giver?~hile perhaps most modem commentators on theirst Gospel have returned an affirmative answer to

these questions, Terence L. Donaldson, in his recentstudy, Jesus on the Mountain:A Study in MattheanTheology (JSNT Suppl. 8, JSOT Press [1985]), hasgiven us cause for doubt. In a hefty tome which runsto over three hundred pages, he has examined inminute detail every mountain scene in Matthew,with this result: the dominant typology expressed bythe mountain motif is not that of Sinai but that of

Zion, the mount of assembly. The mountain motif

is a device used by the evangelist to make the chris-tological statement that Christ has replaced Zion asthe centre of Gods dealings with his people; in himall the hopes associated with Zion have come to frui-tion and fulfilment (p. 200).

It is not the purpose of this brief note to subjectDonaldsons major conclusions to critical scrutiny.His original contribution, which is rich in compara-tive source material and full of fresh observations,demands the sort of comprehensive review I cannotnow afford to give it. I do, however, wish to expressreservations concerning the exegesis of Mt 5:1-2.Should we now, in the light of Donaldsonspainstaking work, give up the common opinion?Must we henceforth refrain from connecting theSermon on the Mount with Mount Sinai? - or atleast view the connection as greatly muted? Thefollowing four observations strongly incline me tothink not.

(1) Jesus sits on the mountain. Most commen-tators remark that this reference to posture empha-sizes Jesuss role as teacher, for rabbis and others sat

when they taught. But there could well be more. InDt 9:9

(atext which

mightbe alluded to in Mt

4:2),Moses speaks these words: When I went up themountain to receive the tables of stone, the tables ofthe covenant which the Lord made with you, Iremained on the mountain forty days and fortynights; I neither ate bread nor drank water (RSV).The word translated, remained, is w1/:z. BDBlists, as the second and third meanings of y1ag,remain and dwell respectively. But the first mean-ing given for the verb is sit, and in b. Meg. 21a wefind this: One verse says, &dquo;And I sat in the moun-

tain&dquo; [Dt 9:9], and an other verse says, &dquo;And I stood

in the mountain&dquo; [Dt 10:10]. Rab says: He [Moses]stood when he learnt and sat while he went over[what he had learnt]. R. Hanina said: He wasneither sitting nor standing, but stooping. R

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Johanan said: &dquo;Sitting&dquo; here means only &dquo;staying&dquo;,as it says, &dquo;And ye stayed in Kadesh many days&dquo; [Dt1:46]. Raba said: The easy things [he leamt] stand-

ing and the hard ones sitting.2 This rabbinic text,which is also found in b. Sota 49a, proves that Dt 9:9could be taken to mean - and was by at least somerabbis taken to mean - that Moses sat on Mount

Sinai. We cannot, of course, move from this to Mt

5:1-2 without further ado, for the rabbinic text andthe tradition contained therein cannot be dated with

any certainty.3 Nonetheless, b. Meg. 21a and b. Sota49a plainly reveal the ambiguity ofthe verb in Dt 9:9and raise the possibility of a Jewish tradition aboutMoses sitting on Sinai. This is all the more signifi-cant given that Matthew not only knew the Hebrewtext of the Old Testament but was also probablyacquainted with Jewish exegetical tradition.5

(2) Jesus goes up on the mountain. The Greek is,aneb eis to oros (cf. 14:23; 15:29). Now in the Sep-

tuagint,anabaino + eis to oros occurs only twenty-

four times. Of these, a full eighteen belong to thePentateuch, and most refer to Moses (Ex 19:3, 12, 13;24:12,13, 18; 34:1, ~ (A), 4;Num 27:12; Dt 1:24, 41, 43;5:5; 9:9; 10:1, 3; 32:49). Surely this fact strengthenswhatever association there might be between Mt 5:1-2 and the Old Testament account ofMoses receivingthe Torah. Note also that Deut 9:9 (see above) is oneofthe verses from the Pentateuch to contain the con-

struction anabaino + eis to oros.

(3) If the vocabulary Lf Mt 5:1-2, which introducesthe Sermon on the Mount, can be linked up with

Old Testament texts about Moses,so can the

vocabulary of Mt 8:1, a redactional verse whichcloses the sermon: katabantos de autou apo tou orous.

This is almost identical with Exod 34:29 LXXA,which recounts Mosess descent from Sinai:

katubainontos de autou apo tou orous (cf. also 19:14;32:1, 15). Moreover, a participial form of katabaiti6+ de + autou + apo + tou orous appears in the Old

Testament only once, in the passage cited (LXX Bhas ek for apo).

(4) Mt 5:1-2 should not be discussed in isolationfrom its broader context. Whether the two verses

standing by themselves would recall the giving ofthe Law on Sinai is uncertain. But consider for a

moment what comes before chapter 5. Matthews

Gospel opens with infancy traditions which, amongother things, call to mind the circumstances ofMosess birth, especially as these are recorded byJosephus and the Liber Biblicarum Antiquitaturn.Into the details of this I need not enter here: others

have made the facts clear.6 What then follows Mt 1-

2 ? Mt 3-4, where Jesus is first baptized and then

tempted by the devil. That exodus themes are here tobe recalled cannot be gainsaid. Having passedthrough the waters of a new exodus at his baptism,Jesus enters the desert to suffer a time o~ testing, his

forty days of fasting being analogous to Israels fortyyears of wandering. Like Israel, Jesus is tempted byhunger.And, like Israel, Jesus is tempted to idolatry.

All important for a right understanding of Mt 3-4 isDt 8:2-3: And you will remember all the way the

Lord your God has led you these forty years in thewildemess, in order to humble you and test you, toknow what was in your heart, whether you would

keep his commandments or notAnd he humbledyou and let you hunger .... How does all of this relateto Mt 5:1-2? If the opening of the Sermon on theMount_be linked up with Sinai, then Mt 1-5 in all its

parts reflects a developed exodus typology. The

Gospel opens with events recalling the birth andchildhood of Moses. Then there is Jesuss baptism,which parallels Israels passing through the waters.There follows next the temptation, in which Jesus re-experiences the desert temptations recounted inDeuteronomy. Finally, there is 5:1-2, where Jesus,like Moses, sits on a mountain. In otherwords, everymajor event in Mt 1-5 apparently has its counterpartin the events surrounding Israels exodus fromEgypt. Moreover, the order ofthe events in Matthew- childhood of Jesus, baptism, temptation, mount ofrevelation - lines up with the chronological order ofevents in the Pentateuch - childhood of Moses,exodus from Egypt, entry into the wilderness, Sinai.The typology is thus extensive and consistentlythought through.

If the points I have called-attention to are not to bedismissed as the capricious workings of hap-

penstance, then Donaldsons provocative study ofthe mountain in Matthew has underestimated thepresence ofSinai motifs in Mt 5:1-2. This causes one

to wonder whether Donaldson has also underes-timated the influence ofSinai elsewhere in the Gos-

pel. In my judgment, there are good reasons to thinkhe has, which means that, despite its being a verygood book, Jesus on the Mountain is not the lastword on its subject.

1 Cf. Ezk 8:1; Mt 23:2; Lk 4:20-27;Acts 16:13; m. Abot 1.4;

3.2, 6;ARN 6; Eus. H.E. 5.20. The Hebrew word for school,

yesb, means sitting (cf. Sir 51:23).2 Trans. of M. Simon for the Hebrew-English Edition of theBabylonian Talmud, Seder Moed: Megillah, ed. I. Epstein(Traditional Press [n.d.]), 40.3Hanina and Rab were Tannaitic, Johanan and Raba

Amoraic. Donaldson himself notes the rabbinic traditionthat Moses sat on Sinai, but he cites only Pirqe R. El. 46 and

Memar Marqah 4.6 and fails to observe the ambiguity of Dt9:9 (p. 253, n. 33).4See G. M. Soares Prabhu, The Formula Quotations in the

Infancy Narrative of Matthew (AnBib 63, Biblical InstitutePress(1976]), 63-106.



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5 See Dale C.Allison, Jr., The Structure of the Sermon on

the Mount (JBL, forthcoming).6

E.g. R. E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (Doubleday[1977]), 111-16.7 See W. D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount

(CUP [1964]), 25-48; B. Gerhardsson, The Testing of GodsSon (Matt 4: 1-11 & Par.) (ConBNT 2/1, Gleerup [1966]).

Short Comments

1 Cor 5:4 ... with my spirit

In what sense could Paul be present at Corinthwhen the Corinthians assembled to hand over the

immoral brother to Satan? Some standard commen-taries dont even mention the difficulties Pauls

words raise for interpretation. In still others, a widerange of possible explanations are to be found.Their plausibility differs markedly.

For some, Paul is present in some spiritual waythat is not physical but real.2 This approach states amystery rather than solves an interpretative puzzle.Others argue for an associative presence. The Lord

of the church would be present at such a gathering(Mt 18:20) and Paul as his apostle would be presentby association with the Head of the church.3 The

ontology apparently presupposed in this solution isitself question begging. Still others suggest anaction or vision at a distance presence. PerhapsPaul, like Jesus, could participate in the lives ofothers is such a manner, though not present in

body.4And some maintain that tou einou pneumatosmeans that the Corinthians would recall Pauls

character (i.e. his ways in Christ) when theygathered to discipline the offender. They would askthemselves what would Paul do in such a situa-tion.5

Another possibility, however, is that Paul is pre-sent in his written judgment on the disciplinaryquestion. For in the letter Paul makes his mind onthe disciplinary matter very clear (cf. 1 Cor 5:3-4, 12-13). Thus Pauls judgment would have played thesubstantive role when the Corinthians gathered.Moreover it is the judgment of Christs apostle (sunte(i) dunamei tou kuriou emon /sou).Additionally,already in the epistle a close relationship between

thoughts, words and spirit has been established -both at a human and divine level (cf. 1 Cor 2:11-16).Dunn hints at such a solution when he suggests that1 Cor 5:4 might parallel Mt 18:20. Perhaps, in Mt18:20, Christ is present through the word of pro-phecy (op. cit., 73). if so, one might ask, could not

Paul be present at the Corinthian assembly throughhis written judgment; presumably read out orrecalled on the oclasion?6

Further, Robert W. Funk has argued cogently thatPaul could conceive of his coming (or presence) to agroup Christians in three ways: by letter (e.g.through the salutation, dialogue and greeting at thevery least), by delegate (e.g. Timothy), or personally

(the apostles physical presence). If the writers ownsuggestion is correct, then a fourth way may beadded to Funks list (or at least a variant on his first

way). Pauls presence at Corinth in I Cor 5:4 couldhave taken the form of an authoritative verbal one,located in his written judgment.

1 E.g. H. Conzelmann, 1 Corinthians (Philadclphia [1975]),97-98, is disappointing in this respect.2 E.g. J. Hring, The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians(London [1962]), 35.3 E.g. F. Godet, Commentary on 1 Corinthians (Edinburgh

[1886]),250-251.

4E.g. J. D. G.Dunn,Jesusand the Spirit(London[1975]), 73,

suggests both possibities, andA. Robertson andA. Plum-mer, First Epistle to the Corinthians (Edinburgh [1914]), 99-100, accent the visionary one.5 E.g. both F. W. Grosheide, Commentary on the First Epistleto the Corinthians (London [1954]), 122, and C. K. Barrett,ACommentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (London[1968]), 124, suggest this possibility.6In 1 Cor 14:37-38 Pauls judgments concerning the exer-cise of charismata are described by the apostle as a com-mand of the Lord. Further these judgments are identifiedwith the text of the letter itself. Jesuss command is Paulswritten

words7See Funks essay in W. R. Farmer, C. F. D. Moule and R.R. Niebuhr (eds.), Christan History and Interpretation (Cam-bridge [1967]), chapter 12, especially pp. 249, 258, 263ff. Forcriticisms of aspects of Funks thesis see T. Y. Mullins,Visit Talk in the New Testament (CBQ 35 [1973], 350-358).

THE REVEREND G.A. COLE, B.A., B.D., M.TH.MOORE THEOLOGICAL COLLEGENEW SOUTH WALES

Romans 11:17-21

In the Talmudic tractate Yebamoth 63a there is a

suggestive passage, where R. Eleazar asks what ismeant by the verse, And in you will all the familiesof the earth be blessed (Gen 12:3), and says that theHoly One, Blessed be He, said toAbraham: I havetwo good shoots to graft onto you, Ruth theMoabitess and Naamah theAmmonitess. Boththese women were non-Jews, but were grafted ontoIsrael. Ruth, of course, was the ancestress of KingDavid, and, ultimately, the Messiah (see Ruth

4:13ff.). Naamah was the ancestress of Rehoboam,Asa, Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah (1 Kgs 14:31).


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1987 - Dale C. Allison - Jesus and Moses (Mt 5.1-2)