21:43: The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people
that will produce fruits.
The expression is comparable to what we find in b. Ḥag. 5B: (“My soul
will weep because of גוה,”
Jer 13:17.) What does “because of גוה”
mean? R. Samuel b. Isaac (ca. 300) said, “Because of the ‘highness’ of Israel,
which was taken from them and given to the nations of the world מפני גאוותן של ישראל
שניטלה מהם ונתנה לאומות העולם.”
(See the unabbreviated passage at § Luke 15:10.)—See also 1 Sam 15:28.—‖
Midrash Esther 1:2 (85A): R. Aibo (ca. 320) said, “It says, ‘For the kingdom is
Yahweh’s, and he rules over the nations’ (Ps 22:29) and you say, ‘On the throne
of his kingdom’ (Esth 1:2)? Yet in the past the kingdom (sovereignty) was with
Israel. But when they sinned, the kingdom was taken from them and given to the
nations of the world. This is what ‘I sold the land into the hand of wicked
people’ (Ezek 30:12) means.”—R. Isaac (ca. 300) said, “Into the hand of wicked
administrators; tomorrow, if Israel repents, God will take the kingdom from the
nations of the world and give it back to the Israelites. When? ‘And liberators
will go up … and the kingdom will fall to Yahweh’ (Obad 21).” ‖ Midrash Psalm
75 § 5 (170B): When the Israelites had sinned, (the ten horns attributed to
them in Scripture) were taken from them and given to the nations of the world.
See Dan 7:7: “(The fourth animal) had ten horns.…” As long as the horns of the godless
continue to exist, the horns of Israel will be cut off (see Lam 2:3). But when
he exalts the horns of the righteous, the horns of the godless will be cut off.
See Ps 75:10: “All the horns of the godless I will cut off,” and immediately
(v. 10): “The horns of the righteous will be exalted.” (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, 2022], 1:1004)
