A Matthean Typology
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Dissertations (1934 -) Projects The New Day of Atonement: A Matthean Typology Hans Moscicke Marquette University Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Moscicke, Hans, "The New Day of Atonement: A Matthean Typology" (2019). Dissertations (1934 -). 854. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/854 THE NEW DAY OF ATONEMENT: A MATTHEAN TYPOLOGY by Hans M. Moscicke, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2019 ABSTRACT THE NEW DAY OF ATONEMENT: A MATTHEAN TYPOLOGY Hans M. Moscicke, B.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2019 Ancient Christians often interpreted the death of Jesus through the lens of Leviticus 16, conceiving Jesus as both the immolated “goat for Yahweh,” whose blood the high priest brought into the Holy of Holies once a year to purge Israel’s sins, and the “goat for Azazel,” which bore Israel’s iniquity into the wilderness far away from God’s presence. Such an understanding of Jesus’s death did not strike theologians such as the author of the Epistle of Barnabas, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Jerome, Cyril of Alexandria, and the earliest Markan commentator as strange. What is strange is how seldom modern critics have scrutinized the potential impact of early Judaism’s most significant occasion of atonement on the First Evangelist’s conception of the death of Jesus, whose blood is explicitly poured out “for the forgiveness of sins” only in his Gospel (Matt 26:28) Building upon the insights of John Dominic Crossan, Helmut Koester, Adela Yarbro Collins, Richard DeMaris, Albert Wratislaw, Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, and Jeniffer Maclean, this dissertation investigates the influence of the Day of Atonement on the First Evangelist’s passion narrative by employing redaction, literary, and intertextual criticism. The Barabbas episode (Matt 27:15–26), the Roman-abuse scene (Matt 27:27–31), the crucifixion, death, and burial narratives (Matt 27:32–66), and Leviticus 16 are the primary texts in this study, though I draw upon a wide range of Second Temple Jewish literature, including the Book of Zechariah, the Book of Watchers, the Book of Jubilees, 11QMelchizedek, and the Apocalypse of Abraham. I conclude that Matthew crafts a sustained Yom Kippur typology in the twenty seventh chapter of his Gospel. He remodels the Barabbas episode as a Yom Kippur lottery between two “goats,” thereby merging the themes of new Passover and forgiveness of sins. In this dark ritual parody, Pilate acts as high priest, designating Jesus as the sacrificial goat for Yahweh and Barabbas as the goat for Azazel. The governor transfers the iniquity of bloodguilt from his hands onto the crowd, which corresponds to sin-bearing Azazel. Since the crowd is only a provisional sin-bearer in his view, Matthew also casts Jesus as a scapegoat. The evangelist depicts Jesus as receiving the sins of the world in the curse-transmission ritual of the Roman-abuse scene. In his death and burial narrative, Matthew portrays Jesus as offering his πνεῦµα/lifeforce to God as the goat for Yahweh and as descending to the realm of the dead as the goat for Azazel. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents........................................................................................................ i INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 1 Method....................................................................................................................2 Procedure................................................................................................................ 6 CHAPTER ONE: STATUS QUAESTIONIS ON YOM KIPPUR IN THE PASSION NARRATIVE AND ATONEMENT IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW .................. 8 1. Jesus as the Scapegoat of Leviticus 16............................................................. 10 John Dominic Crossan..................................................................................... 10 Helmut Koester................................................................................................ 14 Evaluation........................................................................................................ 16 2. Jesus as Pharmakos-Scapegoat.........................................................................18 Adela Yarbro Collins........................................................................................19 Richard E. DeMaris......................................................................................... 21 Evaluation........................................................................................................ 24 3. Jesus and Barabbas, the Two Goats of Leviticus 16.........................................27 Albert Wratislaw.............................................................................................. 27 Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra..................................................................................... 29 Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean.........................................................................32 Evaluation........................................................................................................ 32 4. Alternative Approaches to Atonement in the Gospel of Matthew.....................38 A. Jesus as the Suffering Servant in Matthew..................................................39 B. Jesus’s Death in Light of Matthew’s Metaphors for Sin............................. 44 C. Jesus’s Death as the New Exodus and Paschal Defeat of Dark Powers......51 D. Jesus’s Death as a Matter of Innocent Blood in Matthew...........................56 ii E. Other Views on Atonement in the Gospel of Matthew................................60 Conclusion............................................................................................................ 66 CHAPTER TWO: OVERVIEW OF LEVITICUS 16 AND YOM KIPPUR TRADITIONS IN EARLY JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY................................ 70 Leviticus 16: An Overview of Critical Issues.......................................................70 Leviticus 16: A Summary of the Biblical Yom Kippur Ritual.............................. 77 Apocalyptic Yom Kippur Traditions..................................................................... 82 The Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36)............................................................82 4Q180–181.......................................................................................................88 The Book of Giants..........................................................................................90 The Apocalypse of Abraham............................................................................90 Additional Yom Kippur Traditions in Second Temple Judaism............................93 The Book of Zechariah.................................................................................... 94 The Book of Jubilees....................................................................................... 97 11QMelchizedek............................................................................................ 102 Yom Kippur at Qumran..................................................................................103 Heavenly Ascents in the Yom Kippur Imaginaire......................................... 105 Extra-Biblical Scapegoat Rituals in Second Temple Tradition.......................... 107 Yom Kippur Christologies in the New Testament.............................................. 108 The Pauline Letters........................................................................................ 108 The Epistle to the Hebrews............................................................................ 110 The Book of Revelation................................................................................. 112 Yom Kippur Christologies in Early Christianity................................................. 113 The Epistle of Barnabas................................................................................. 114 iii Justin Martyr.................................................................................................. 117 Tertullian........................................................................................................ 118 Hippolytus......................................................................................................119 Origen............................................................................................................ 119 Jerome............................................................................................................ 121 The First Commentary on Mark.....................................................................121 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 122 CHAPTER THREE: JESUS, BARABBAS, AND THE CROWD AS ACTORS IN MATTHEW’S DAY OF ATONEMENT TYPOLOGY (MATT 27:15–26).............123 Matthew’s Innocent-Blood Discourse and the Watchers Tradition.................... 126 1. The Similarity of the Two Goats.................................................................... 131 2. The Opposing Designations of the Two Goats............................................... 137 3. The