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Innocent Blood Traditions in Early Judaism and the Death of Jesus in Matthew

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Innocent Blood Traditions in Early Judaism and the Death of Jesus in Matthew Innocent Blood Traditions in Early Judaism and the Death of Jesus in Matthew by Catherine Marie Sider Hamilton A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Biblical Department of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology awarded by the University of St. Michael's College © Copyright by Catherine Marie Sider Hamilton 2013 Innocent Blood Traditions in Early Judaism and the Death of Jesus in Matthew Catherine Marie Sider Hamilton Doctor of Philosophy University of St. Michael’s College 2013 Abstract How does Matthew’s use of the “innocent blood” motif illuminate the vexed question of the gos- pel’s attitude to Israel (the theological question) and its relation to contemporary Judaism (the socio-historical question)? Matt 27:25 plays a key role in the debate; it yields in current scholar- ship two opposite readings, one describing God’s final rejection of Israel and one describing God’s redemption of Israel, both in the blood of the son. This study agrees that 27:25 is central but argues that the opposing readings point to the lack of an appropriate control. That control may be found in two parts: first in the literary logic of the gospel in which 27:25 forms part of a central narrative sequence, the theme of innocent blood, and secondly in the relation of the inno- cent blood theme to two distinct traditions of interpretation, one found in Second Temple litera- ture and the other in rabbinic literature. These traditions reflect on the problem of blood and its consequence for the land through the lens of two different scriptural stories: the story of Cain’s bloodshed and the flood in Genesis 3-6, and the story of the blood of Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24; they show significant concinnities with Matthew’s theme of innocent blood. To trace these traditions is to discover a vision reflecting, in the wake of exile, on the fate of the holy city and its people through a scriptural history of blood poured out upon the ground and its consequence both for devastation and for new life. In this context, Matt 27:25 and the theme of innocent blood ii reveal a thoroughly Jewish way of reading scripture that finds in the stories of the faith the key to the logic of history, and in the fate of the people a divine purpose embracing both judgement and hope. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. viii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 I. Matt 27:25 and the Intra Muros/Extra Muros Debate ............................................. 2 II. The Theme of Innocent Blood: Questions of Method and Approach ................... 13 III. Method ................................................................................................................... 18 IV. Insistent Historicity ................................................................................................ 25 V. Innocent Blood in Matthew and Second Temple and Rabbinic Literature ........... 29 VI. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 36 Chapter 2 The Theme of Innocent Blood in the Gospel of Matthew: A Narrative-Critical Study ....................................................................................................................................................... 38 I. Innocent Blood in the Passion Narrative ............................................................... 40 II. Innocent Blood in the “Massacre of the Innocents” .............................................. 44 III. The Meaning of Innocent Blood through the Lens of the Blood of the Innocents: scholarly readings of 2:16 and 27:25 and an alternative proposition. .................................. 52 IV. The Scope of Innocent Blood: the Question of Israel. .......................................... 54 V. The Blood of Abel and the Blood of Zechariah: Matt 23:35-38 and 2 Chron 24 . 56 Chapter 3 Cain and Innocent Blood in Lamentations .................................................................. 64 I. Innocent Blood and Cain in Lamentations 4 ......................................................... 70 II. Innocent Blood and Cain in Lamentations 1 and 2 ............................................... 82 iv Chapter 4 1 Enoch and the Cosmic Sweep of Innocent Blood: From Cain and Blood to Flood and Judgement .............................................................................................................................. 88 I. 1 Enoch 6-11 and Genesis ..................................................................................... 89 II. From Bloodshed to Flood .................................................................................... 102 III. Flood as Eschatological Cataclysm ..................................................................... 106 IV. Cain/Blood-Flood/Judgement in Animal Apocalypse .......................................... 109 Chapter 5 Cain/Blood-Flood/Judgement Traditions .................................................................. 117 I. Jubilees ................................................................................................................ 117 II. The Damascus Document .................................................................................... 139 III. Sibylline Oracles 3 ............................................................................................... 159 IV. Susanna ................................................................................................................ 170 V. Pseudo-Philo ........................................................................................................ 184 VI. Jude ...................................................................................................................... 198 VII. Summary .............................................................................................................. 213 Chapter 6 The Blood of Zechariah in Early Jewish Interpretive Tradition ............................... 217 I. The Legend of Zechariah’s Blood ....................................................................... 219 II. Innocent Blood: The Problem of Pollution and the Fate of the Land .................. 225 Chapter 7 Zechariah and Abel Traditions in Matthew............................................................... 239 I. The Blood of Zechariah ....................................................................................... 241 II. Innocent Blood and the Problem of Pollution ..................................................... 250 v III. The Blood of Abel and the Cain/Blood-Flood/Judgement Traditions ................ 257 IV. The Influence of 1 Enoch? ................................................................................... 276 V. Innocent Blood, Flood and Exile ......................................................................... 284 Chapter 8 The Meaning of Innocent Blood in Matthew: Pollution and Purgation, Exile and Restoration .................................................................................................................................. 290 I. The Death of Jesus in Matthew as a Saga of Innocent Blood ............................. 291 II. Innocent blood and the Fate of the People .......................................................... 294 III. Exile and Innocent Blood in Matthew 2. ............................................................. 303 IV. Exile and Innocent Blood in Matthew 1: The Genealogy ................................... 308 V. Why, after all, Exile? The Logic of Innocent Blood ........................................... 316 VI. What of Salvation? The crucifixion and resurrection narratives in relation to the problem of innocent blood and exile .................................................................................. 321 VII. “This is My Blood…”: Matt 23:35 and 26:28 ..................................................... 337 VIII. Salvation for “His People” .................................................................................. 342 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 354 vi List of Appendices Appendix A: Elements of Cain/Blood-Flood/Judgement Sequence in Individual Texts Appendix B: Wisdom of Solomon and the Cain/Blood-Flood/Judgement Traditions vii Acknowledgements Some portions of chapters 1, 3, 7 and 8 have appeared in another form in my article “ “His Blood Be upon Us”: Innocent Blood and the Death of Jesus in Matthew,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 70 (2008): 82-100. A portion of chapter 5 (IV: Susanna) appeared in my chapter “Blood and Secrets: The Re-telling of Genesis 1-6 in 1 Enoch 6-11 and Its Echoes in Susanna and the Gospel of Matthew,” pages 90-141 in The Synoptic Gospels, edited by Craig A. Evans and H. Daniel Zacharias; vol. 1 of ‘What Does the Scripture Say?’ Studies in the Function of Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity (ed. Craig A. Evans and H. Daniel Zacharias; SSEJC 17; London: T&T Clark, 2012). Abbreviations In matters of style, including abbreviations, I have followed The SBL Handbook of Style (Peabody,
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