It may here again be advisable to
seek first not intertextual but intratextual references. In Matt 23:35 Jesus
speaks of πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυννόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς coming upon the scribes and
Pharisees, who are responsible for the blood of all the righteous from Abel to
Zechariah. The shedding of Jesus’ blood in the Gospel of Matthew results both
from a murderous human conspiracy as well as the divine will. Further, Lev 4–16
is peppered with the language of περὶ [τῆς] ἁμαρτίας, which may therefore
contain better candidates for a precursor text than Isa 53. In short, finding
an allusion to the Servant here is a dubitable prospect, as Luz rightly
observes: “Mir ist der Anklang an Jes 53 wie bei 20,28 sehr fraglich, da kaum
wörtliche Übereinstimmungen festzustellen sind.” [RB: I find the connection
to Isaiah 53, as in 20:28, very questionable, since there are hardly any
literal correspondences to be found.] (Luz, Mattäus, 4:115) Other
intratextual or intertextual options are much more efficient and fruitful. (Leroy
A. Huizenga, The New Isaac: Tradition and Intertextuality in the Gospel of
Matthew [Supplements to Novum Testamentum 131; Leiden: Brill, 2009], 245,
comment in square brackets added for clarification)
