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The End of the Law: The Messianic Torah in the Pseudepigrapha

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Michael Tait
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Abstract

Like the Messianic Banquet, the Messianic Torah is a concept frequently encountered among New Testament scholars. It seems to be presupposed as a category well known to first century Judaism and, therefore, to be a yardstick against which Jesus’ ‘legislative’ activity could and can be measured. An examination of this concept begins with the tension in Jewish thought between the eternity of the Mosaic Law and the various strategies designed to supplement its inadequacy to deal with contemporary situations. Given that the unique circumstances of the Messianic Age involve a further complication, the relevant texts are reviewed for their contributions to the problem. The Old Testament writers look to a deepening of observance of the Mosaic Law in the eschatological times. The Pseudepigrapha offer little more apart from a hint of Messianic legislation in Psalms of Solomon 17. Even the gospels do not show us a Jesus who fits readily into the model of a Messianic legislator. In fact St John probably pictures him as the embodiment of the Torah, the Word made flesh. The conclusion is that, whatever the later rabbinic teaching on the subject, the idea of the Messianic Torah is a scholarly construct as far as the New Testament is concerned.

Keywords

MessiahTorahPseudepigraphaEschatologyJesus

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 89 , Issue 1024 , November 2008 , pp. 691 - 701
Copyright
Copyright © The author 2008. Journal compilation © The Dominican Council/Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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References

1 Cf Rom 7:12.

2 Ps.119:89.

3 Ps.119:144.

4 Ps.119:152.

5 Bar 4:1.

6 Sir 24:9. Sirach also viewed the Law as pre-existent; “From eternity, in the beginning he created me.”

7 Wisd 18:4.

8 eg Ex 16:34; Lev 16:34.

9 Deut 4:2, 12:32.

10 Particularly if the more radical critics are correct about the exilic or later date of the Pentateuch.

11 Jn 10:34, 15:35.

12 Also, even more explicit, 2 Bar 59:2: “The lamp of the eternal law.”

13 Philo, Vita Mosis II, 14.

14 As we shall see, it was exactly this kind of thinking which led the rabbis and their predecessors to develop the doctrine of the oral Torah. De facto they conceded an element of abrogation, eg the laws of the adulteress which were not enforced in the Mishnaic period.

15 eg the legislation on the Day of Atonement which, in Leviticus 16, betrays signs of successive revisions.

16 4 Ezra gives virtual carte blanche to this kind of pseudepigraphic activity with its endorsement of seventy esoteric books for the wise. Cf 4 Ezra 14:46.

17 Wise, Michael, A Critical Study of the Temple Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1990), pp 184–9Google Scholar.

18 W. D. Davies has denied that a careful distinction between these ages was made in pre-rabbinic times. Nevertheless, one should not use the terms loosely as if they were always and everywhere interchangeable, cf. Davies, W. D., The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount (CUP, 1964), p.182Google Scholar.

19 cf. 2 Bar 73:4.

20 The Exodus is often taken with Creation as Urzeit. In each case, the Lord triumphs over the waters.

21 That this is not an abstract question can be seen from the very real battles over the question of Gentile-Christian observance of Torah in Acts and in Paul.

22 Strack, H. und Billerbeck, P., Kommentar zum Neuen Testament (München: Beck, 1928)Google Scholar.

23 Yahqut is thirteenth century A.D.

24 W. D. Davies, Setting (1964), p.185.

25 Banks, R., Jesus and the Law in the Synoptic Tradition (CUP, 1975), pp. 67–85Google Scholar.

26 Justin, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter XI. Justin's belief in a new Law seems to be simply an inference from the New Covenant promised by the prophets.

27 Cf Ps 68:17. If Zion replaces Sinai in some respects, as the place of God's presence, for example, then it can be seen also as the locus for any new law that is to be delivered

28 Ps 37:29 –“the law of his God is in his heart”; Ps 40:8 –“I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.”

29 Deut 6:6 –“And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart.”

30 ie along the lines of Deut 18:15ff.

31 In the ‘Apocrypha’, mention is made of a coming prophet and the Law in 1 Macc 4:41–6 and 14:28–49 but both cases concern interpretation of the Law rather than fresh legislation.

32 W. D. Davies, Setting (1964), pp. 140–2.

33 This is the key criterion for judgement in 2 Baruch (51).

34 1 En 48:1 and 49:1.

35 Cf Nickelsburg, G. 1 Enoch 1 (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001), pp 50, 58–9Google Scholar.

36 Is 11:2.

37 Cf 1 En 71:3.

38 Cf Nickelsburg Enoch (2001), p 28. ‘The eschatological proclamation of the revealed truth about God's law and judgement is an integral feature of the end time’. This is very different from an eschatological Torah replacing the Mosaic one. We may compare this revelatory task to that of the herald in 11Q Melchizedek whose function is ‘to instruct them in all the ages of the world’ (11QMelch III.20). Nickelsburg, p 52, notes that the eschatological transmission of Enochic wisdom is found in four out of the five major sections of 1 Enoch, ie all except the Book of Luminaries (1 En 72–82).

39 4 Ezra 13:10. The reference is to Is 11:4. This text is frequently employed in Messianic writings: eg Pss Sol 17:36. Cf 1 En 51:3.

40 Mt 11:13//Lk 16:16.

41 In this case, apparently, all the children of Israel.

42 Cf Rom 15:8.

43 The Mount may be intended to recall Sinai but we should not forget that in some eschatology Sinai had been replaced by Zion.

44 Mt 5:17.

45 Cf Schweitzer, A., The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede (London: A & C Black, 1910), p 352Google Scholar.

46 CD and 1QS expect change at the eschaton but probably in laws governing the community rather than the Torah itself.

47 Professor Philip Alexander of Manchester University points out that some medieval Jewish law codes resemble 11QT and yet are definitely not intended to replace the Torah. The Law Code of Maimonides was called Mishnah Torah/Deuteronomy which out of context might look like an eschatological law written by a second Moses. In fact, 11QT is very similar to the Mishnah, a flowing text which harmonises biblical law, explains it and adds non-biblical law. The rabbis certainly did not see the Mishnah as a replacement for the Mosaic Torah.

48 Mk 10:6 and parallels.

49 N.B. the “new commandment”/“new teaching” of John, Mark and Barnabas.

50 Jn 2:19.

51 Jn 7:37–8. For a complete exposition of this theme, cf Brown, R. E., The Gospel according to St John (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1966CrossRefGoogle Scholar–70) especially p cxliv.

52 Davies, W. D., Setting (CUP, 1964 ), p 184Google Scholar.

53 Cf. also Hos 6:2–3 (LXX).

54 Some Jewish apocalyptic groups believe indeed that the Zionist State is part of the eschatological tribulation. cf. Marcus, Joel, ‘Modern and Ancient Jewish Apocalypticism,’JR 76 (1996), 1–27Google Scholar.