Scholars
have argued variously that the expression “tabernacle of David” refers to the restoration
of Israel, the nascent church, and Jesus. Chance argues that Luke expects the restoration
of Jeruslaem, but on the question of a restored temple he avers, “given the
close association between the city and temple thought Luke-Acts, one might offer
a positive answer, though with great reserve.”
R. Bauckham
has recently analysed Luke’s citation from the point of view of Luke’s source
and Luke’s own design. He notes that the building term, ανοικοδομεω, replaces the two instances of ανιστημι in the LXX of Amos,
and affirms, “they would not have been made had the exegete who produced this
form of the text not wished it to be quite clear that the reference is to the restoration
of a building”. He supports this argument with the claim that the omission
of και ανοικοδομησω τα πεπτωκοτα αυτης from the citation of Amos was made because this phrase suggests the
rebuilding of city walls rather than a temple.
After
reviewing second Temple texts which refer to the eschatological temple being
built by God or his agent, Bauckham concludes, “Thus the exegete whose work is
embodied in Acts 15:16-18 may have understood the phrase σκηνη Δαυιδ to mean God himself will build the eschatological
temple miraculously through the agency of the Davidic Messiah, though he may
simply have taken it to refer to the Temple of the Messianic age, which God will
build when ‘David’ rules God’s people”.
Bauckham further
argues that “In a Jewish Christian context in which Amos 9:11-12 is understood
to predict the inclusion of Gentiles in the eschatological people of God, it is
clear that the eschatological Temple must be understood as the Christian
community”. His evidence is based on texts outside Acts and he shows that “the
Temple as the community” was a prevalent idea in early Christianity. His point
is that scriptural prophecies of the Gentiles coming to worship God were seen
to be fulfilled in them joining the Christian community. While Chance has shown
that the idea of the Christian community as the eschatological temple is not prevalent
in Luke or Acts, Bauckham points to Acts 15:16 as evidence that Luke saw the
community in this way. We conclude, following Bauckham, that the speech of
James is therefore part of Luke’s temple-directed apologetic. (Andrew Perry, “Eschatological Deliverance: The Spirit in
Luke-Acts” [PhD Thesis; Durham University, September 2008], 273-75)
Further Reading: