The promise of the keys of the
kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:17-19) demonstrates the cultic implications of
such acceptance within the earliest phases of Jesus’ movement. The imagery of
the keys is harnessed to speak of the power of the Church to forgive particular
transgressions (16:19b, c; cf. 18:18, 23-35), and that may be regarded as the sense
of the keys given Peter within the Matthean redaction. But the prehistory of
the passage suggests another context. The keys of v. 19 are reminiscent of
Isaiah 22, where Eliakim is given power of access into the Temple, the Targum
of Isaiah makes the cultic implications of that power unmistakable. Eliakim is
there given the key of what is specifically called the sanctuary, and he is
provided with priestly vesture in v. 21 and with a priestly entourage in v. 24.
What Jesus promises Simon/Peter is the authority to determine who might and who
might not be acceptable within the Temple; the subsequent shift to the
liturgical forgiveness of sins occurred under the influence of preoccupations of
the Matthean community. For Jesus, sin is “bound” or “loosed” because sacrificial
practice may be changed in the Temple, the point closest to heaven, on his authority.
(Bruce Chilton, A Feast of Meanings: Eucharist Theologies from Jesus through
Johannine Circles [Supplements to Novum Testamentum LXXII; Leiden: Brill,
1994], 53-54)
Targum
Jonathan on Isa 22:22-23:
וְאֶתֵּן מַפְתֵּחַ בֵּית מִקְדְשָׁא וְשׁוּלְטַן בֵּית דָוִד וְיִפְתַּח
וְלֵית דְאָחִיד וְיֵיחוֹד וְלֵית דְפָתַח:
וְאֶמַנִנֵיהּ אַמַרְכֶּל מְהֵימָן מְשַׁמֵשׁ בַּאֲתַר קַיָם וִיהֵי לְכוּרְסֵי
יְקָר לְבֵית אֲבוּהִי:
22 And I will place the key of the house of the sanctuary, and the
government of the house of David, in his hand; and he shall open, and none
shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will appoint him a
faithful chief governor, an officer in a firm place, and he shall be for a
glorious throne to his father's house.
