 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: The Quotation from Isaiah 42, 1-4 in Matthew 12,18-21 Subtitle: Its Textual Form Author(s): MENKEN, M.J.J. Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 75 Issue: 1 Date: April 1999 Pages: 32-52 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.75.1.504748 Abstract : In another contribution I have tried to show that Matthew, who inserted this long fulfilment quotation, has connected the quotation to what precedes it in a fairly precise way, not essentially different from the way in which he operated with his other fulfilment quotations. In 12,14-16, the evangelist has related the decision of the Pharisees to destroy Jesus, Jesus' knowledge of this decision and his consequent withdrawal, his healing activity and his command to those who have been healed not to make him known. These events are interconnected: Jesus withdraws and forbids his real identity to be made public, because the time for the execution of the Pharisees' plan has not yet come. Matthew sees the fulfilment of the quotation from Isaiah as follows: Jesus' true identity, that will only be made known after his death and resurrection, and that includes his significance for the Gentiles, is described in v. 18; Jesus' response to the Pharisees and their response to him are described in v. 19, his healing activity is described in v. 20ab, and his death and resurrection as the realization of justice, again in connection with his significance for the Gentiles, in vv. 20c-21. Matthew has omitted Isa 42,4a because these words were incompatible with Jesus' passion and death. So there is no uninterpreted surplus in the quotation. For this reason, and also because Matthew's fulfilment quotations together constitute a fairly heterogeneous set, it is not necessary to assume that the evangelist took the quotation from a collection of testimonia. It is better to assume that it comes from a continuous text. |
|
