Before Jesus goes to the cross, His last words answer Pilate’s question “Are you king of the Jews?” Jesus says, ” You say,” which means “Yes” with the nuance of “My kingship is being declared by the Roman governor.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Every commentator on Matthew notes the connection between Pilate’s handwashing and the ritual of Deuteronomy 21. Elders of a city where there is an unsolved crime - unappeased innocent blood - break the neck of a “virgin” heifer (never yoked) in a valley with living water, . . . . Continue Reading »
A Girardian take on the dream of Pilate’s wife in Matthew 27:19. As noted in an earlier post, 27:17-21 is a chiasm, with the dream at the center. Verse 18 corresponds with verse 20, since both are about the chief priests and elders. But there is also a deeper link: verse 18 says . . . . Continue Reading »
James Scott ( Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (The Institution for Social and Policy St) ) suggests that “legibility” is a central problem of politics. ”The premodern state,” he writes, “was, in many crucial . . . . Continue Reading »
In his recent God’s Battalions: The Case for the Crusades , Rodney Stark challenges the conventional notion that Islamic civilization was more advanced than Christendom’s in the early middle ages. One part of his case is to show that much of Islamic civilization depended on the . . . . Continue Reading »
Davies and Allison point to numerous links between Matthew 2 and 27: the phrase “king of the Jews” (2:2; 27:11); chief priests (2:4; 27:12, 20); the Christ (2:2; 27:17, 22); “all Jerusalem” and “all the people” (2:3; 27:25); warning to Gentiles in a dream (2:12; . . . . Continue Reading »
Within the inclusio described in the last post, there are three sections: the episode of Judas and the thirty pieces of silver (27:3-10), Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus (27:11-14), and the offer to the Jews of a prisoner release (27:15-26). The last two sections are, roughly, . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew tells us that the Jews delivered Jesus to PIlate the governor (27:2), but then interrupts his story of Jesus’ trial before Pilate with the episode of Judas’ remorse (27:3-10) before getting back to Jesus before the governor. Why? The structure of the passage helps to . . . . Continue Reading »
At the feast, Pilate offers to release ( apoluo ) a prisoner to the people. Earlier in Matthew, the verb is used with some frequency to describe the release of a wife, a divorce (Matthew 1:19; 5:31-34; 19:3, 7-8). In other passages, it means “send away,” as when the . . . . Continue Reading »
Prior to the Song of Songs, women’s bodies are mainly described in terms of function. Eve is the “mother of the living”; wombs are for giving children; breasts are for nursing. Rules of uncleanness for women focus on childbirth and menstruation, again relating the . . . . Continue Reading »
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