Strack and Billerbeck on Jewish/Rabbinic Parallels to Hebrews 4:12

  

4:12: The word of God is … sharper than any two-edged sword.

 

See Tg. Song. 3:8 and Midr. Ps. 45 § 6 (136A) at § Eph 6:17 B. ‖ Pesiqta 102B: “A two-edged sword חֶרֶב פִּיפִיּוֹת in their (the pious’) hand” (Ps 149:6). R. Judah (ca. 150) … said, “This refers to the written and the oral Torah.” — In Midr. Song. 1:2 (83A), R. Nehemiah (ca. 150) is the author. ‖ Babylonian Talmud Berakot 5A: R. Isaac (ca. 300) said, “He who reads the Shema (of the evening) on his bed is like one who has a sword with two edges חרב של שתי פיפיות in his hand; as it says, ‘Raising praises to God in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand’ (Ps 149:6).” ‖ Midrash Song of Songs 1:2 (83A): R. Samuel (so read!) b. Nahman (ca. 260) said, “The words of the Torah are like a weapon: as a weapon remains (as assistance) for its owner in the hour of the battle, so the words of the Torah remain for the one who occupies himself earnestly with them.” R. Hanina b. Aha (ca. 330) proved this from the following, “ ‘Raising praises to God in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand’ (Ps 149:6). As a sword consumes on two sides, so the Torah gives life in this and in the future world.” — The last saying is attributed in Pesiq. 102B to R. Nehemiah (ca. 150). ‖ See further Midr. Ps. 149 § 5 (271A); Gen. Rab. 21 (14C). (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:800)

 

Strack and Billerbeck on Psalm 45:7

  

Psalm 45:7f. according to the base text: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness (uprightness) is the scepter of your kingship. You have loved righteousness and hated godlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy before your companions (= more than your companions).” — In rabbinic literature, Psalm 45 is interpreted to refer to the sons of Korah, to Moses, to Aaron, and to Solomon; see the explanations in Midr. Ps. 45. Alongside this we find the messianic interpretation, which is represented mainly in the targum.

 

Targum Psalm 45:3ff.: “Your beauty, O king, Messiah, is more excellent than that of the (other) children of men. The spirit of prophecy is laid upon your lips; therefore Yahweh has blessed you forever. Gird your sword about your hips, O hero, to kill kings together with rulers, your majesty and your glory. And your glory will be great; therefore you will have fortune to ride along on royal steeds (another reading: to sit on the royal throne) for the sake of faithfulness and truth and gentleness and righteousness, and Yahweh will teach you, to perform deeds that awaken fear with your right hand. Your projectiles are drawn to kill masses, to topple nations under you and the children of your bow (= your arrows) are sent into the heart of the enemies of the king. The throne of your glory, Yahweh, remains for all eternity. A scepter of righteousness תְּרִצְתָא (uprightness) is the scepter of your (the Messiah’s) kingship. Since you have loved righteousness and hated godlessness, Yahweh, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than your companions. All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloe, and cassia; from palaces that are covered with ivory, string music delights you (others: that are covered with ivory from the land of Armenia, you are delighted). The provinces of your kingdom will come to greet your face and to honor you, while the book of the Torah will lie at your right side (read דמעתד instead of דמעתר), which is written with pure gold of Ophir. Hear, community of Israel, the Torah of his mouth and look at this wondrous works and incline your ear to the words of the Torah and do not forget the wicked deeds of the godless of your people and the house of idols which your father’s house served. Then the king will long for your beauty, for he is your Lord and you will bow before him. And the inhabitants of the city of Tyre will come with gifts and seek your face, to your sanctuary the richest of the nations will come. Everything beautiful and desirable among the goods of the provinces (and) among the treasures of kings that had been stored up, will be presented to the (Israelite) priests, whose garments are interwoven with pure gold. In embroidered garments they will present their offerings before the eternal king, and the rest of their companions who are dispersed among the nations will be brought to you with joy in Jerusalem. With joy they will be brought and with songs of praise, and they will go up into the temple of the eternal king. In place of your fathers there will be for you the righteous, your sons; you will appoint them as princes in all the earth. In that time you will say, ‘We will remember your name from generation to generation. Therefore the nations that have become proselytes will praise your name for all eternity.’ ” ‖ Genesis Rabbah 99 (63B): “The scepter will not depart from Judah” (Gen 49:10); this refers to the throne of kingship (as it says,) “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingship” (Ps 45:7). When? (When the following is fulfilled:) “Nor the ruler’s staff from his feet” (Gen 49:10); when that one comes, to whom the kingship is due (i.e., Shiloh = the Messiah), of whom it is written: “The crown of arrogance will be trampled with feet …” (Isa 28:3). ‖ In the course of R. Eliezer (ca. 90) and his colleagues treating the question whether one will wear weapons in the messianic age, the former had answered the question in the affirmative on the basis that the weapons would then serve as an adornment. Then it says further in b. Šabb. 63A: Abbayye († 338/39) said to Rab Dimi (ca. 320) or, as others say, to Rab Avayya—others say that Rab Joseph († 333) said to Rab Dimi or, as others say, to Rab Avayya—still others say that Abbayye said to Rab Joseph, “What was the scriptural basis for R. Eliezer, so that he said that they (the weapons) would be items of adornment? Because it is written, ‘Gird your sword around your hips, O hero, your highness and your glory’ (Ps 45:4).” ‖ See b. ʿAbod. Zar. 65B (read 65A) at § Rom 1:26 B, #2. This is followed by: Rab Pappi (ca. 360) said, “He should have answered him with this passage of Scripture. ‘Daughters of kings are among your honored ladies; your wife stands at your right hand in gold jewelry of Ophir’ (Ps 45:10).” — Since the conversation of Bar Shishak with Rab refers to the days of the Messiah, Rab Pappi would also have related Ps 45:10 to this time. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:790-91)

 

Strack and Billerbeck on Jewish/Rabbinic Parallels to Hebrews 1:3

  

1:3 A: The reflection of glory.

 

It says of wisdom in Wis 7:26: “She is a reflection ἀπαύγασμα of the eternal light and an immaculate mirror ἔσοπτρον of God’s work and a likeness of his goodness” εἰκὼν τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ. — From rabbinic literature, we can compare this to expressions like זִיו יְקָרָא “splendor of glory,”^a זִיו אִיקוֹנִין “splendor of likeness, of appearance”^b and נוֹבֶלֶת = “likeness, reflection, (imperfect) counterpart.”^c

 

a. See Tg. Onk. Exod. 34:29 at § 2 Cor 3:7 C, #1. ‖ See Tg. Onk. Deut. 34:7 at § 2 Cor 3:7 C, #3.

 

b. See Tg. Yer. I Exod. 34:29 at § 2 Cor 3:7 C, #1. ‖ Genesis Rabbah 53 (33D): “Sarah … bore Abraham a son in her old age לִזְקֻנָיו” (Gen 21:2); this shows that the splendor of his (Isaac’s) image (appearance) was like his (Abraham’s). — The midrash interprets לזקניו as a notarikon = לְזִיו אִיקוֹנָיו = “after (according to) the splendor of his image.”

 

c. Genesis Rabbah 17 (12A): R. Hanina b. Isaac (in the 4^th cent.) said, “There are three likenesses נוֹבְלוֹת: The likeness of death is sleep, the likeness of prophecy is a dream, the likeness of the future world is the Sabbath.” R. Abin (I, ca. 325; II, ca. 370) added two more, “The likeness (reflection) of the upper light is the orb of the sun, the likeness (reflection) of the upper wisdom is the Torah.” — The same is found in Gen. Rab. 44 (27D).

 

1:3 B: The imprint (impress) of his being.

 

χαρακτήρ = קְלַסְטֵר (קְלַסְתֵּר) “imprint, facial features, face.”^a — χαρακτήριον = כְּלַקְטֵירִין “imprint, image, facial features.”^b

 

a. Babylonian Talmud Baba Meṣiʿa 87A: (After Isaac’s birth, the people said,) “Abraham, the hundred-year-old, is supposed to have begotten? Immediately Isaac’s facial expression קלסתר פנים changed so that he was like Abraham.” ‖ See b. Ber. 7A at § 2 Cor 3:7 C, #2, n. e.

 

b. Leviticus Rabbah 23 (122B): (The adulterer) does not know that the one who sits in the hidden place of the world, that is, God, forms its (the child’s) imprint (facial features כלקטירין; so read instead of כל קטורין) according to his (the adulterer’s) likeness, in order to make it known (as a bastard). — The same is found in Pesiq. Rab. 24 (124B); in a broader version in Num. Rab. 9 at the beginning; Tanḥ. נשא 195A; the last two passages replace the foreign word with צוּרָה = form, image.

 

1:3 C: The one who bears all things by the word of his power.

 

Genesis Rabbah 22 (15B): “Cain said to Yahweh, ‘My guilt is too great to bear’ ” (Gen 4:13). The ones above and those below you bear אתה סובל, but my sin you do not bear. ‖ Exodus Rabbah 36 (95D): “You would call, and I would answer; you would long for the work of your hands” (Job 14:15). In four pieces God longs for the works of his hands … And these are: God bears סוֹבֵל his world (see Isa 46:4) …, God protects his world …, He illuminates the world. (The 4^th piece is missing; yet see the commentaries.) ‖ Leviticus Rabbah 4 (107D): The soul bears the body and God bears סובל his world (see Isa 46:4). So let the soul, which bears the body, come and praise God, who bears his world. ‖ Targum Yerušalmi I Deuteronomy 33:27: “The dwelling (of God) was from the beginning and under the arm of his strength, which bears the סביל world.” — See more on this passage the excursus “The Memra of Yahweh,” #4, A, n. c. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:782-83)

 

G. Vanoni on שִׂים śîm (TDOT) (cf. Isaiah 50:2//2 Nephi 7:2)

  

God’s helping, admonishing, destructive, and revivifying actions in such “putting” and “making” accompany Israel through their history. During the exodus, he makes the sea dry (Ex. 14:21) and puts darkness (maʾ^ap̱ēl) between Israel and their pursuers (Josh. 24:7). He puts a hook into the nose of Israel’s enemies (2 K. 19:28 = Isa. 37:29) and makes their city into a “possession of the hedgehog” (Isa. 14:23). He makes the nations judges (l^emišpāṭ) over Israel (Hab. 1:12). He exposes Jerusalem by setting it in the center of the nations (Ezk. 5:5) and secures the throne of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 43:10; cf. the reference to Yahweh’s own throne in the oracle of judgment, 49:38). He makes Israel’s or the enemy’s land a “desolation” (šammâ, š^emāmâ: Isa. 13:9; Jer. 6:8; 18:16; 25:12; 51:29; Mic. 1:7; Zech. 7:14; their cities in Jer. 19:8; Zeph. 2:13; mountains in Mal. 1:3; people in Jer. 25:9; Hos. 2:5[3]; cf. Lam. 3:11) or into a “forest” (yaʿar: Hos. 2:14[12]) or “ruin” (ʿawwâ: Ezk. 21:32; ḥorbâ: Ezk. 35:4; ʿî: Mic. 1:6; cf. m^eḥittâ in Ps. 89:41[40]). He makes rivers into a “desert” (miḏbār: Ps. 107:33; Isa. 50:2) and makes a “grave” for Nineveh (Nah. 1:14). Those suffering from war, banishment, and distress find that God has made them into a “spectacle” (r^oʾî: Nah. 3:6), a “plaything” (māḏôn: Ps. 80:7[6] [NRSV “scorn/strife”]; cf. Job 7:20, “target”), a “song of mockery” (māšāl: Ps. 44:15[14]; Ezk. 14:8[?]), “filth” (s^eḥî: Lam. 3:45; Biblical Aram. n^ewālû: Dnl. 2:5), subjecting them to scorn (ḥerpâ: Ps. 39:9[8]; 44:14[13]). Finally, the combination of śîm + k^e + PN functions similarly as a threat of judgment (Jer. 29:22; Hos. 11:8; cf. Gen. 48:20 in relation to blessing). (G. Vanoni, “שִׂים,” in TDOT 14:109)

 

Examples of Scholalry Commentaries on the Word Play in Philemon 1:11

  

11 A: The one who was useless … very useful.

 

ἄχρηστον … εὔχρηστον; see a similar common wordplay dealing with the slave trade in Exod. Rab. 43 (99C): R. Judah b. Shalom (ca. 370) said in the name of R. Judah b. Simon (ca. 320) in the name of R. Levi b. Perata (ca. 300), “Like someone who wanted to buy a slave. He said to its master, ‘Is this slave, whom you want to sell, of a bad sort קאקוגריסין (= κακὴ αἵρεσις) or of a good sort קלוגריסין (= καλὴ αἵρεσις)?’ He answered him, ‘He is of a bad sort, and that is why I am selling him’ ” (Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:777)

 

 

He was once useless to you. Paul now plays formally on the name of the slave, using the adjectives achrēstos, “useless,” and euchrēstos, “quite useful,” in the second part of the verse. The first means just the opposite of Onēsimos, denoting someone who is an-onētos, “useless.” The Apostle gives no details about how Onesimus became “useless” to Philemon, but he is clearly playing on the meaning of the slave’s name. Onesimus became “useless” either by running away or, more likely, as v 18 implies, by having stolen something from Philemon or caused him some financial damage or loss. It was something that aggravated his relationship to his master. In any case, Onesimus has become like the proverbially useless Phrygian slave (Cicero quotes the proverb Phrygem plagis fieri solere meliorem [A Phrygian usually becomes better because of a whipping] in Pro Flacco 65). For other instances of puns on names, see Aeschylus, Agamemnon 671; Prometheus Bound 85–86; Sophocles, Ajax 430–31. (Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Letter to Philemon: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [AYB 34C; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 108)

 

 

An example of paronomasia—word play—demonstrates the acoustic dexterity and intentionality of Paul with a play on the proper name Onesimus (meaning ‘useful’). Paul recognizes Onesimus’ usefulness rather than his uselessness. A further acoustic variation might be achrēstoñ euchrēston (‘useless/useful’) could have been pronounced achrīston/euchrīston, giving the sense of ‘christless’ and ‘christfull.’ One final insight whose perception is enhanced when the epistle of Philemon is heard rather than silently read is the repetition of the word splanchna (bowels/mercies/heart). Paul uses this word in a logical series of three: 1) Paul praises Philemon for refreshing the hearts of the saints; 2) Paul names Onesimus as Paul’s heart; 3) Paul invites Philemon to refresh his heart, thus asking Philemon to refresh Onesimus by receiving him well. (James A. Maxey, From Orality to Orality: A New Paradigm for Contextual Translation of the Bible [Biblical Performance Criticism 2; Eugene, Oreg.: Cascade Books, 2009], 124-25)

 

 

Further Reading:

 

Matthew L. Bowen, “You More Than Owe Me This Benefit: Onomastic Rhetoric in Philemon,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 17 (2016): 1-12

Go Fund Me for Medical Expenses

Some already know, but today I found out that I will need to be on medication to treat my liver–will see how it is a year or so from now. So, for those who wish to help me with my ever-growing medical expenses (liver; OCD; chronic migraines), you can do so via:

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Thanks!

Andrew T. Lincoln on Jesus's Comments Concerning the Beloved Disciple in John 21:20-23 Being "Conditional," "Vague," and "Non-Committal"

  

The final part of the narrative in John 21:20-23 also portrays Jesus as a reliable interpreter of the future, this time of the fate of the Beloved Disciple. Despite the latter having featured briefly in the fishing story, he is reintroduced to readers in terms of his first appearance in the narrative of the earlier Gospel (21:20; cf. 13:23-25), suggesting that at least 21:15-23 and possibly 21:20-23 themselves had been separate traditions. In the midst of a dialogue between Peter and Jesus about the Beloved Disciple, Peter is told, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me” (21:22). But the writer depicts this saying, which was intended to instruct Peter to mind his own business, as in fact being remembered as a prophecy that the Beloved Disciple would not die before the return of Jesus. He then corrects that memory with a reminder of Jesus’s practice words. As they stand, what are claimed as Jesus’s precise words do not, of course, constitute a prediction. Its conditional clause makes the saying vague and non-committal. Jesus is presented as in effect saying that, depending on his will, the Beloved Disciple might or might not die before his coming again. (Andrew T. Lincoln, “John 21,” in The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, ed. Helen K. Bond [London: T&T Clark, 2020], 1:219, emphasis in bold added)