![]() Zech 9:9 seems to mention two animals, a "donkey" and a "colt, the foal of a donkey." In the Hebrew text of Zech 9:9 it is clear that these are two descriptions of the same beast: parallel phrasing like this is quite common in Hebrew poetry. Mark's scenario, in which Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem while a crowd cheers for the "coming kingdom," apparently reminded Matthew of Zechariah's prophecy. Matt 21:5 begins with a phrase from Isa 62:11 and then selectively quotes Zech 9:9. Once again Matthew interrupts the narrative to announce the fulfillment of a prophecy (21:4), which he then quotes (21:5). Matt 21:1–9 follows Mark 11:1–10 closely, except for two features.ġ. In this scene Jesus rides into Jerusalem to the cheers of a crowd. But this is to pick nits: Matthew is focused on the phrase "pagan Galilee." For here we see the religious point of this prophecy: by portraying Jesus as fulfilling Isaiah's vision, Matthew shows that he was sent for both Jews and Gentiles. ![]() Strictly speaking, then, Matthew describes Jesus leaving Zebulun to move to Naphtali. All of Galilee is on the west side of the Jordan, and Capernaum on the lakeshore several miles southwest of the river's entrance into the Sea of Galilee. He cannot include Isaiah's "across the Jordan" because Jesus never crosses that river. He also describes Capernaum (somewhat inexactly) as "in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali," whereas in fact Nazareth is in Zebulun and Capernaum is in Naphtali. Knowing from Mark 2:1 and 2:15 that Jesus had a house in Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee, Matthew reports that Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, and is thus able to work the word "sea" from the Isaiah verse into 4:13. Matthew 4:13 uses geographical markers from Isa 9:1 to amplify the description of Jesus' movements found in Mark. The prophet cited, Isaiah, mentions Galilee along with the old Israelite tribal names Zebulun and Naphtali and locates them on the way to the sea and across the Jordan River (Isa 9:1). But Matthew separates Mark's grammatically connected verses and inserts an unnecessarily detailed account of Jesus' change of residence (Matt 4:13), followed by Matthew's fulfillment formula (Matt 4:14) and his quotation of Isa 9:1–2 (Matt 4:15–16). In recounting the start of Jesus' public career, Matthew follows Mark's outline: Matt 4:12 = Mark 1:14 and Matt 4:17 = Mark 1:15. For our present purpose it will suffice to undertake a brief analysis of three such cases in which it is relatively simple to track the particular ways Matthew uses prophecy to help tell the story of Jesus. Twelve times in his gospel, Matthew interrupts the story to tell us that the event he is narrating fulfilled a specific prophecy, which he then quotes. Third, we will assess whether the belief that Jesus fulfilled prophecy is helpful or harmful to contemporary Christian faith. ![]() Second, we will investigate how the proof-from-prophecy theme works in Matthew's gospel. First, we will examine how Matthew handled prophecy-or, more precisely, how he manipulated it-as he integrated the words of the prophets into his narrative. This essay is offered as a step in that direction. Since Matthew's proof-from-prophecy theme has been foundational to Christianity's conviction that it is superior to Judaism, and since that conviction has had such pernicious consequences historically, Christian scholars, and all who are committed to the honest examination of Christian origins, have an ethical obligation to examine Matthew's claims critically and to assess their value for Christian theology. Matthew thus uses prophecy as a proof that Israel's history had been building up to Jesus. The way Matthew matches prophecies to the story of Jesus creates the strong impression that anyone who believes in the scriptures of Israel must see that Jesus is the promised Messiah. That interpretive practice is evident in most of the New Testament, but it is Matthew's gospel that carries it out most thoroughly and most explicitly. ![]() From the first century until now, Christians have correlated statements about Jesus with carefully chosen Old Testament prophecies to document their belief that God's plan for human salvation reached its fulfillment in Jesus. The belief that Jesus fulfilled prophecy has been a cornerstone of the notion that Christianity supersedes Judaism. ![]() This article is adapted from chapter 8 of Robert J. From The Fourth R Volume 16-2 March-April 2003 ![]()
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