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JESUS the JEW: ESCHATOLOGICAL PROPHET, GALILEAN HASID OR CYNIC SAGE? JACOBUS ADRIAAN MYBURGH Submitted in Accordance with the Re

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JESUS the JEW: ESCHATOLOGICAL PROPHET, GALILEAN HASID OR CYNIC SAGE? JACOBUS ADRIAAN MYBURGH Submitted in Accordance with the Re JESUS THE JEW: ESCHATOLOGICAL PROPHET, GALILEAN HASID OR CYNIC SAGE? by JACOBUS ADRIAAN MYBURGH submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY in the subject NEW TESTAMENT at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROFESSOR PJJ BOTHA OCTOBER 1995 BEDANKINGS Soveel mense het oor 'n leeftyd 'n vormende invloed op my gehad. Met betrekking tot hierdie proefskrif is ek 'n paar uitsonderlike mense dank veskuldig. Hoe kan 'n mens die dank verwoord wat ek aan Professor WS Vorster verskuldig is? Hy het my uitgedaag om my denkhorisonne te oorskry en sodoende vir my werelde laat oopgaan wat ek my skaars sou kon indink. Sy dood was vir ons almal meer as net 'n persoonlike verlies. Aan Professor PJJ Botha my vriend vir byna twee dekades: "Pieter, dankie dat jy ten spyte van al die implikasies bereid was om onder moeilike omstandighede as promotor oor te neem. Ek het na jou toe gekom omdat ek die hoogste agting vir jou akademiese integriteit het. Die leiding wat jy aan my gegee het, het hierdie integriteit bevestig. Vir Jan Bester, my medeleraar en goeie vriend: "Jan, dankie vir jou luister en veral vir jou eindelose ure van geduld met die gereedmaak van hierdie manuskrip. Met so 'n medeleraar soos jy, het 'n man nie vriende nodig nie!" Vir Edith, my vrou, moet een woord alles omsluit - "Dankie vir jou liefde." Aan Iaan en Francois en later ook Riaan, julie ken my as julie studerende pa, ek hoop dat dit ook vir julie rede tot trots en inspirasie sal wees. • ABSTRACT The diversity of Jesus images that resulted from historical Jesus research poses the single most pressing problem of the research endeavour. Diverse historical images lead one to ask questions about historiography. It is a fact that we do not have bruta facta in history but only interpretations of what might have happened. The problem of diverse images is taken up in this thesis. Three different images that are the result of different points of departure and different methods of research are closely scrutinised. The images are: Eschatological prophet, Cynic sage and Galilean Hasid. After close· examination of each of these images one has to conclude that each of them is a viable image. One may question the proponents of each of these images on methodological aspects as well as their presuppositions. This line of questioning would not solve the problem. One would also expand the problem if one were to seek yet another image. A way out of this impasse would be to try to understand the diversity. Is there an image that could explain the diversity? The modem diversity of Jesus images is a continuation of an ancient diversity that one could find in the ancient texts at our disposal. From this we could deduce that Jesus was understood differently by different people from the onset. The challenge is to find an image that would clarify the diversity. What sort of Jesus would have been understood in so many ways? We have reason to take Jesus to be a Jew from Galilee. If we could find a Galilean Jewish image that would explain the diversity, we would be very near the historical Jesus. The image of the Galilean Hasid is a very promising option. Some of the kingdom sayings, that are most probably authentic, were taken as test cases to see whether they could have been uttered by a Galilean charismatic and later interpreted as Cynic and/or eschatological. The conclusion is that the image of Galilean charismatic would open up new avenues to approach the diversity of images of the historical Jesus. KEY WORDS Jesus the Jew; Eschatological prophet; Galilean Hasid; Cynic sage; Diversity; Apocalyptic; Kingdom sayings; Son of man; Hellenism in Palestine; Cynics; Charismatic Judaism; Titles of Jesus; Two source hypothesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM OF DIVERSE IMAGES IN IDSTORICAL JESUS RESEARCH 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 The Jewishness of Jesus as point of departure . 3 1.2 The place of Jesus in Judaism . 4 2 THE PROBLEM OF DIFFERENT IMAGES OF JESUS . 7 2.1 Different images of Jesus in historical Jesus research . 7 2.2 Early Christianity was not a unitary system . 10 2.3 Assessment . 13 3 THE ESCHATOWGICAL JESUS VERSUS OTHER IMAGES . 16 4 THE REASONS FOR DIVERSE IMAGES . 16 4.1 Historiography is an interpretation of what happened . 17 4.2 The problem of prejudice . 18 4.3 The problems posed by the texts . 19 4.3.1 The texts are not historiography . 20 4.3.1.1 Methods for finding authentic parts in the texts . 20 4.3.2 The texts use the same logia in different ways . 24 4.3.3 The texts are not examples taken from a uniform Christianity . 26 4.4 Assessment . 27 5 OBJECTIVE . 27 6 METHOD ...................................... 28 6.1 The comprehensive methodology of Crossan . 29 TABLE OF CONTENTS ll 7 CONCLUSION . 30 CHAPI'ERll THE ESCHATOLOGICAL IMAGE OF THE IDSTORICAL JESUS 1 INTRODUCTION . 32 1.1 Objective . 32 1.2 Method . 32 1.3 The importance of E.P Sanders as exponent of the eschatological image . 34 2 THE TERMS APOCALYPTIC AND ESCHATOLOGICAL ...... 34 2.1 Eschatology and apocalyptic are modern terms for an ancient phenomenon . 35 2.1.1 Eschatology . 35 2.1.2 Apocalyptic . 36 2.1.2.1 Apocalypse and apocalyptic eschatology . 36 2.2 Judaism and Christianity are occupied with the end of time . 37 2.3 The ambiguity of the terms apocalyptic and eschatological . 39 2.4 Eschatology and apocalyptic, two names for the same phenomenon? 40 3 THE REASONS FOR HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION . 41 4 SANDERS' METHOD . 42 4.1 The temple act . 44 4.1.1 The authenticity of the temple act . 44 4.1.2 Sanders' views on the authenticity of the temple act . 45 4.1.3 A further investigation of the authenticity of the temple act . 46 TABLE OF CONTENTS lll 4.1.4 Assessment . 47 4.2 The cleansing of the temple? . 49 4.3 Assessment . 51 5 RESTORATION ESCHATOLOGY IN JUDAISM ............ 53 6 JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST . 55 6.1 Jesus, a disciple of John the Baptist? . 56 6.2 John the Baptist as eschatological prophet . 56 6.3 Jesus' view of John the Baptist . 58 6.4 Conclusion about the relationship between the Baptist and Jesus . 58 6.4.1 Who was actually superior? . 59 6.4.2 John the eschatological prophet . 60 6.4.3 Jesus' view of John . 62 6.5 The difference between Jesus and John the Baptist . 63 6.6 Assessment . 64 7 THE KINGDOM OF GOD . 65 7.1 The sayings and the Kingdom of God . 65 7.1.1 Ambiguous sayings . 66 7.1.2 Sayings referring to the future . 68 7.1.3 Sayings referring to the present . 69 7.1.4 Perrin's reaction to the temporal problem of the Kingdom . 71 7.2 The Kingdom in Judaism . 72 7.3 Sanders, the Kingdom and the sayings material . 73 TABLE OF CONTENTS IV 7.4 Assessment . 75 8 SON OF MAN . 77 8.1 The authenticity of Son of Man . 77 8.2 The origin of Son of Man . 80 8.2.1 The meaning of Daniel 7:13 . 80 8.2.2 Son of Man and Messiah . 82 8.3 The titular use of Son of Man . 83 8.3.1 Son of Man in Aramaic . 84 8.3.2 Son of Man as used in the texts . 86 8.4 Assessment . 88 9 THE DEATH OF JESUS AND ITS AFTERMATH ............ 89 9.1 Jesus and the Law . 89 9.2 The opponents of Jesus . 90 9.3 The death of Jesus . 91 9.4 Assessment . 92 10 EVALUATION . 92 CHAPTER ill JESUS THE CYNIC SAGE 1 INTRODUCTION . 94 2 THE CYNICS . 95 3 HELLENISM IN PALESTINE ......................... 97 3.1 The linguistic argument . 99 TABLE OF CONTENTS v 3.2 The extensive influence of Hellenism 101 3.2.1 Politics ...................................... 101 3.2.2 Archaeology ................................... 103 3.3 Summary . 103 4 WISDOM AND JESUS . 104 4.1 Wisdom in Judaism ................................ 105 4.1.1 Wisdom from experience ........................... 105 4.1.2 Theological Wisdom .............................. 107 4.1.3 The teachers of Wisdom ........................... 108 4.2 Jesus and Wisdom . 108 4.2.1 The words of Jesus in Wisdom collections ................ 108 4.3 Summary . 112 5 THE CYNIC IMAGE OF MACK . 113 5.1 The method of Mack . 113 5.2 The relationship between the eschatological image and the Gospel of Mark ......................................... 114 5.3 Wisdom and the Kingdom of God . 115 5.4 From different interpretations to Jesus' own thought .......... 116 5.5 Parables and the Kingdom of God ...................... 118 5.6 The Kingdom sayings in Mark . 119 6 ASSESSMENT . 120 6.1 Is Mark an apocalypse? ............................. 121 7 THE CYNIC IMAGE OF F G DOWNING . 123 TABLE OF CONTENTS vi 7.1 The method of Downing 124 7.2 Christian and Cynic radicalism ........................ 125 7.3 Jesus as Cynic ................................... 126 7.4 External evidence ................................. 128 7.5 Assessment . 129 8 CONCLUSION 130 CHAYfERIV JESUS THE GALILEAN HASID 1 INTRODUCTION . ..
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