The death of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel as a recapitulation of Israel’s exile in the Jewish Scriptures and post-Biblical Jewish tradition

Abstract

Matthew’s Gospel is marked by connections between Jesus and various figures and events in the Jewish Scriptures. Matthew also draws on Jewish traditions current in the first century, some of which also appear in the Targums, the Aramaic translations and paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible. This thesis argues that Matthew uses these traditions to cast Jesus’ death as a restaging of Israel’s exile, which validates Jesus’ messianic credentials insofar as Israel’s story is retold in the life and, in this case, the death of Israel’s Messiah. Matthew alludes to texts in which God’s people suffer as a result of the Babylonian siege and exile, and has Jesus recapitulate these events in his own suffering and death. An analysis of Matthew’s Parable of the Tenants (21:33-46) and Passion Narrative (26-27) in light of the Scriptures and Targums shows that Jesus enters into exile as a “ransom” (20:28), which pays the debt that Israel’s sin had accrued.