The Jewish Annotated New Testament (195 page)

13.31
–52: Parables of mustard seed and yeast
(Mk 4.30–34; Lk 13.18–21). Cf.
Gos. Thom
. 8,20,76,96,109.

31
–32:
Mustard seed
, symbolizing smallness (17.20;
m. Nidd
. 5.2;
m
.
Tehar
. 8.8;
b. Ber
. 31a; cf. Lk 17.6), although the plant can grow as high as five feet.
Becomes a tree
, an ironic comment; the parable is a parody (Ezek 17.23; 31.5; Dan 4.7–9,17–19).

33
:
Yeast
, which permeates and expands.
Three measures
, approximately sixty pounds; like the previous parable, an account of ironic and unexpected exaggeration.

35
:
Ps 78.2 (following the LXX).

37
:
Son of Man
, see 8.20n.

42
:
See 8.12n.; 22.13.
Furnace
, represents judgment (Dan 3.6;
1 En
. 54.6;
4 Ezra
7.36).

43
:
Dan 12.3.

44
:
Cf. Prov 2.4; Sir. 20.30;
2 Bar
. 6.7–9. According to rabbinic sources, once a person acquired property all contents belonged to him/her (see
m. B. Bat
. 4.8–9).

45
:
Pearls
, Jewish sources relate pearls to piety and Torah study (
Pesiq. Rab
. 23.6;
Avot de R. Natan
18A; cf.
Acts Pet
. 20).

48
:
Fishermen in the Sea of Galilee would have had to separate kosher and nonkosher fish from their nets.

52
:
Scribe
…
trained for the kingdom of heaven
, elsewhere, scribes are condemned (ch 23), suggesting this positive reference relates to Matthew’s own scribes (cf. 5.17–20; 8.18; 9.3; 13.52; 15.1; 20.18; 21.15; 23).
What is new and what is old
, see 9.17n.

13.53
–58: Rejection in Nazareth (
Mk 6.1–6; Lk 4.16–30; Jn 4.44). See 12.46–50n.

54
:
Hometown,
Nazareth, see 2.23n.

55
:
Carpenter
(Gk “tektōn”), a builder, not just a woodworker.

57
:
Took offense
, Hebrew prophets were also rejected (Jer 11.21–23; 12.6; Am 7.10–17).
Prophets are not without honor
, in the Tanakh, Jeremiah was also rejected by his own people (Jer 1.1; 11.21).

58
:
Did not do many deeds
, Matthew makes the lack of miracles a matter of volition, not capability (contrast Mk 6.5).

14.1
–12: John the Baptist is beheaded
(Mk 6.14–29; Lk 9.7–11). Cf.
Ant
. 18.109–19.

1
:
Herod
Antipas, son of Herod the Great (see 2.1n.), ruled Galilee from 4 BCE–39 CE.

2
:
John the Baptist
, see 3.1–12.
Raised from the dead
, an ironic comment, given that Matthew depicts Jesus, not John, as eventually raised.

3
:
Herodias
, niece of Herod the Great, sister of Agrippa I (Acts 12.1), and wife not of Antipas’s brother Philip but of another half-brother, Herod Boethus.

4
:
Not lawful
, marrying a brother’s wife constituted incest (Lev 18.16; 20.21; Deut 25.5–10;
Ant
. 18.136; cf. 5.31–32).

5
:
Feared the crowd
, Josephus confirms John’s popularity.

6
:
Daughter of Herodias,
Josephus names her Salome (
Ant
. 18.136–37).

7
:
Whatever she might ask
, a rash promise; see Esth 5.3.

10
:
Had John beheaded
, see 17.12–13.

12
:
His disciples came
, an ironic foreshadowing of Jesus’ death, where the twelve disciples desert him (see 27.57).

14.13
–21: Feeding more than five thousand
(Mk 6.30–44; Lk 9.12–17; Jn 6.1–15 [the only miracle reported in all four canonical Gospels]).

19
:
Blessed and broke the loaves
, see 26.20–29; the description recollects the feeding of Israel in the wilderness (Ex 16) and anticipates the Last Supper.
2 Bar
. 29.8 connects Ex 16 with the messianic age.

20
:
All ate and were filled
, recollects the feeding of Israel in the wilderness (Ex 16.15–18; Num 11.31–32; cf Jn 6.31–33; Rev 2.17) and the miracle of Elisha (2 Kings 4.42–44).

14.22
–36: Jesus walks on water
(Mk 6.45–52; Jn 6.16–21).

25
:
Walking toward them on the sea
, like God, Jesus has power over the seas (Gen 1.9–10,21; Ex 14.21–22; Isa 43.16; 51.9–10; Hab 3.15; Ps 77.19; Job 9.8; 26.11–12). See 16.33n.

26
:
Ghost
, Gk “phantasma,” “apparition”; the term does not mean that the disciples thought Jesus was dead, only that there was some sort of visible manifestation.

27
:
Ex 3.14; Deut 31.6. A rabbinic story depicts the recitation of scripture during a storm (
b. B. Bat
. 73a).

28
–30:
Perhaps a foreshadowing of Peter’s later lack of faith.

31
:
Little faith
, a frequent rebuke of the disciples, 6.30; 8.26; 14.31; 16.8; 17.20.
Doubt
, see 28.17.

33
:
Son of God
, here indicating Jesus’ divine nature (cf. 2.15; 3.17; 4.3,6; 8.29); the phrase may have been a messianic reference (4Q246;
4 Ezra
7.28–29; 13.32); no Jewish texts identify the Messiah as the son of God.

34
:
Mk 6.53.
Gennesaret
, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Josephus,
J.W
. 3.516–21).

36
:
Fringe
, see 9.20n.

15.1
–20: Tradition of the elders
(Mk 7.1–23).

2
:
Do not wash
, see Ex 30.17–21, concerning priests; rabbinic thought extends several Temple purity practices to the household (see
m. Yad
. 1.1–2.4;
b. Ber
. 53b;
b. Git
. 15b;
b. Pesah
. 115a–b;
b. Sukk
. 26b; 27a).

4
:
Honor your father and your mother
, Ex 20.12; Deut 5.16.
Whoever speaks evil
, Ex 21.17; Lev 20.9.

5
:
Given to God,
the “Korban” offering dedicates property to the Temple (see
m. Ned
. 3.2; 5.6).

8
–9:
Isa 29.13 (following the LXX).

11
:
Cf.
Gos. Thom
. 14.
Defiles
, spiritual purity is more important than physical purity of the body (5.19–20; cf. Ps 24.3–4; 51; 2 Chr 30.18–20;
Pesiq. Rav Kah
. 4.7;
Pesiq. Rab
. 14.14).

13
:
Isa 60.21; Jer 12.12.

14
:
Blind guides
(Lk 6.39; cf.
Gos. Thom
. 34), Matthew warns against following Pharisaic rather than church teachers.
Fall into a pit
, suffer misfortune (Isa 24.18; Jer 48.44 ; Ps 7.15; Prov 26.27).

15
–16:
See 13.13n.
Still without understanding
, the disciples by now should not require explanations (13.16).

18
:
See 15.11n.

20
:
To eat with unwashed hands does not defile
, Matthew omits Mark’s claim (7.19) that Jesus declared all foods clean; for Matthew, dietary laws remain in place, but some “traditions of the elders” are not followed.

15.21
–28: The Canaanite woman
(Mk 7.24–30). Cf. 1 Kings 17.8–24.

21
:
Tyre and Sidon
, see 11.21n.

22
:
Canaanite
, Israel’s traditional enemies; the region was associated with Baal worship (Gen 9.25; Judg 2.11–12; 3.7; 8.33; Hos 2.13).
Came out
, Jesus and the woman meet at the border; it is not clear that Jesus enters the Gentile district.
Son of David
, Jesus’ Jewish messianic title (1.1; 9.27; 12.23; 15.22; 17.15; 20.30; 21.9; cf.
T. Sol
. 20.1). The woman foreshadows the conversion of the Gentiles (see also 8.10n.; 18.6; 21.21; 24.13–14; 28.19).