Zechariah’s Judean and the Fringe of Jesus’ Garment – Part 1

she, perhaps even unwittingly, shows Jesus to be Zechariah’s Jew whose tassel is grasped because his presence mediates God’s presence.

I’ve posted a couple times about content in Amy Elizabeth Richter’s dissertation, The Enochic Watchers’ Template and the Gospel of Matthew. The details are interesting. Richter spends some time explaining the relationship of Jesus as Emmanuel, or God with us, to the singular Jew in Zechariah 8:23. This is part 1 of 2 where we’ll work through Richter’s thoughts. You can find her exposition on pages 156-160.

Matthew writes to a Jewish audience. It’s natural that he uses examples and Old Testament passages that his audience would be familiar with. In 9:20-22 Matthew recounts the story of the bleeding woman. In this case she touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment.

And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

Mt 9:20-22, ESV

And this detail in Matthew that a broader Jewish audience understood that those who touched the fringe of Jesus’ garments were made well.

And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick 3and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. 

Mt 14:35-36, ESV

Matthew chooses the Septuagint (LXX) as a frame of reference for “fringes.” A Greek speaking Jewish audience would most likely be familiar with translation and phrasing, and these passages in Numbers 15:38 and Deuteronomy 22:12 would come to mind.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying “Speak to the children of Israel and instruct them that they should make fringes for themselves upon the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and place upon the fringes of the borders a blue thread. 39 And so it will be for you in the borders, and you will see these things, and you will recall all of the commandments of the Lord, and you will do them; and you will not distort them according to your intentions and your eyes, by which you committed fornication by going after them, 40 so that you will recall and observe all my commandments and will be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord, your God, the one who led out you of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord, your God.”

Numbers 15:37-41, LXX

You shall make twisted braids for yourself on the four edges of your cloak that you throw around yourself.

Deuteronomy 22:12, LXX

The Numbers reference makes clear the purpose of the fringe to take the Jewish mind back to God’s commands and drive observance as a holy people (Num 15:40)

Broadly, eschatology is the study of the final events of history and the ultimate destiny of humankind. Zechariah points to “those days” (Zech 8:23) in an eschatological sense as a time when people of all nations return to Jerusalem to seek the face of the Lord.

And the word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying, 19 “The Lord Almighty says, ‘The fourth fast and the fifth fast and the seventh fast and the tenth fast will be for the house of Judah for joy and merriment, and for a good feast, so you will rejoice and love truth and peace.’ 20 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Yet many people will come, even ones who dwell in many cities. 21 And those who dwell in five cities shall come together into one city, saying, “Let us go to pray before the face of the Lord and to seek out the face of the Lord Almighty; and I myself will go.” 22 And many people and many nations will come to seek out the face of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem and to make atonement ⌊before⌋ the Lord.’ 23 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In those days if ten men from every tongue of the nations should seize, then let them seize the fringe of the garment of a Judean man, saying, “We will go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.”

Zechariah 8:18-23, LXX

The grasping of the fringe by men of all nations signifies the eschatological realization that God is with the Jews. Matthew leverages this thinking and makes the explicit connection that God is with us through a Judean man – Jesus.

The eschatological significance of Matthew’s retelling of the incident becomes clearer against the retellings of Mark and Luke. Mark does not refer to the fringes of the garment.

27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29

Mark 5:27-29, ESV

And Luke, while appealing to the eschatological sense of the fringe, has the woman somewhat arbitrarily touching the fringes without her statement to herself that she would be made well by doing so.

43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?”

Luke 8:43-45, ESV

In any case, it may be the woman does not understand the eschatological significance of her action – that “she shows Jesus to be Zacharias’ [Judean] whose fringe is grasped because his presence mediates God’s presence.” (Richter 158). But Jesus surely does. Unlike the accounts in Mark and Luke where Jesus asked who had touched him, in Matthew “Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” Jesus knows she has touched his fringe because of her faith and perceives the significance of her actions, even if the woman herself does not. Jesus is Emmanuel – God is with us, foretold in Zechariah and witnessed by the bleeding woman.

Bibliography

Brannan, R., Penner, K. M., Loken, I., Aubrey, M., & Hoogendyk, I. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Septuagint (Dt 22:12). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Mk 5:27–29). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Building Brittle Faith Through Proof-Texting: Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25, ESV

Mike Heiser points out in his podcast on Hebrews 10 (transcript) that common use of Hebrews 10:24-25 isn’t too damaging, and can be beneficial, but its use usually misses the critical point.

In my experience, I hear this from the pulpit when midweek attendance is down, or in a one-on-one conversation when someone hasn’t been at church for a few weeks. The gist is that you need to be at all the meetings of the church. And the implication is that if you miss a few for no good reason, or if you miss consistently, then you’re not doing too well spiritually. I’m not sure too many people could define “not doing well spiritually,” but it sounds like you really know what you’re talking about when you use the phrase.

Heiser points out that ecclesia – the word translated as church – isn’t used in this passage. He then identifies the two uses of ecclesia in Hebrews. First in Hebrews 2:11-12 where ecclesia is translated “congregation”:

That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 1saying, 

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

Hebrews 2:11-12

and then in Hebrews 12:23 where it’s translated “assembly”:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Hebrews 12:22-24

In the context of chapters 2 and 12, ecclesia describes the brothers and sisters who have made it – they’ve fought the good fight and are glorified. The author is not referencing the church on earth or its meetings.

I like how Heiser describes the point of the passage:

The point here in this passage (Hebrews 10:25)… The writer is afraid for those who habitually refuse community. It is a present active participle. “Neglecting” there is present active in Greek. The reference is to some activity that is ongoing and that is probably even habitual. Why is he worried about that? Is he worried that believers won’t get the correct number of hours in a week to keep God happy? No. He’s worried about that because the community can help encourage them to keep believing. They’re under persecution. Life is hard. It has nothing to do with meeting a quota of hours per week to keep God happy. Honestly, that is a wicked legalizing of something that’s really important, that just far and away transcends that kind of thinking, especially if you appreciate the context here. This was a big deal. Because as people would drift away and they would doubt and think, “Should I go back to Judaism?”… This is the whole focus of the book— the superiority of Christ! It would be spiritual insanity to want to go back to this.

The passage is framed in the context of the entire book of Hebrews – Jesus is superior to the Torah. Hold on to your faith! When your faith is challenged, stay plugged in to the faith community. Don’t drift away.

When the passage is used to mandate physical presence and attendance at church meetings it misses the point that being in community can strengthen your hold on your faith during persecution and the difficulties of life. If you’re bored, uncommitted, distracted, kids soccer on Wednesday night … meh … this passage isn’t the one you’re looking for. You have different issues.

The real harm in using this passage to support church meeting attendance is that it sets members up not for the intended encouragement, but for failure. The standard is no longer being in a community that strengthens you, but how many services have I missed. Or having a pastor or friend question you about your spiritual well being. You might question your ability to live up to the standard and even question your own faith. There may be guilt that keeps you away. Rigid standards are brittle. They may be strong, but when they fail they shatter and fail completely.

The Ideal Eschatological Community

Richter provides one of the most beautiful summaries of the community in the book of Ruth as the “ideal eschatological community.” She cites Kathernine Doob Sakenfeld’s essay “Ruth 4, An Image of Eschatalogical Hope: Journeying with a Text.” This essay appears in Liberating Eschatology: Essays in Honor of Letty M. Russell.

the book of Ruth presents a picture of the ideal eschatological community and functions as “an extended metaphor for God’s New Creation.” With its picture of a community in which old and young alike are cared for, where there is physical sustenance for all, where ethnic identities cease to divide, and people participate in the divine חסד [kindness or love between people, of piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity], Ruth shows an “eschatological vision of future hope.” Sakenfeld notes that the hopefulness of the text stands out especially since the story of Ruth is set in the days of the judges, a time marked by Israelite warfare against enemy nations as well as internecine carnage in which women especially suffer (see, for example, Judg 19-21). So, into the midst of a time of warfare and struggle comes a picture of peace, righteousness, and plenty. God gives blessing and God’s name is blessed, and human fruitfulness is shown not only in the birth of Obed, but also in an entire genealogy of descendants.

The Enochic Watchers’ Template and the Gospel of Matthew. Richter, Amy Elizabeth, 126.

Is the community context of Ruth in the timeframe of the Judges in the minds of first century Christians as they read the Matthean genealogy? Richter references it in her dissertation which, by definition, should engage all the relevant scholarship on the topic, so one could say possibly. In any case, it’s a beautiful picture of the providence of God to fashion the wonderful out of a most difficult circumstance.

Wordplay in Hebrews 10:5-7

According to Quintilian, the art of the first- century orator influenced the written style of language

The Institutio Oratoria 10.3.5

Karen H. Jobes argues “that what is typically perceived in Heb 10:5–7 as a ‘misquote’ of the psalm from which the writer of Hebrews must somehow be absolved, is instead his deliberate use of a phonetically based rhetorical technique called paronomasia which was highly valued in the first century.”

Basically, Jobes says that oral and written transmission of information means the perceived misquotes of the Hebrews source material aren’t simply misquotes based on textual criticism. They are deliberate choices made by the author to serve an audience who may hear the work being read to them.

Hebrews 10:5-7

Hebrews 10:5-7
Hebrews 10:5-7

Masoretic Text, Psalm 40:7-8

Masoretic Text Psalm 40:7-8
Masoretic Text Psalm 40:7-8

Septuagint, Psalm 39:7-8

Septuagint Psalm 39:7-8
Septuagint Psalm 39:7-8

Jobes again:

This “misquote” of Psalm 40 in Hebrews 10 should caution modern readers not to impose twentieth-century standards of precision and accuracy on first-century quotations of the OT. First-century authors apparently were not motivated by the precision and accuracy demanded in quoting sources today but were conforming to different standards which may seem strange to the modern reader.

The Function of Paronomasia in Hebrews 10:5-7, Karen H. Jobes

This has implications on the view of inspiration. If God were directly transmitting the words to the author, so to speak, while the author wrote them down, God would certainly not have misquoted the intended passage. If God’s providence prepared the Hebrews writer with his life experience, understanding of language, education, cultural context, etc., the writer can then use his or her own rhetorical expertise to pen the work. God’s providence ensured the author would get it right.

Jewish Second Temple Data on the Identification of the Second YHWH figure

In the second century CE Jews declared the two powers doctrine heresy. This seems to be because the Christians proposed and adopted Jesus as the identity of the second YHWH figure in the OT. Some scholars will argue that the idea that Jesus is God in the flesh is a late idea intended to prop up Christianity.

Charles Gieschen’s Angelomorphic Christology is said to contain all the data on the subject. The implication is clear that the Jews were working out this idea proposing a number of candidates themselves as early as the second century BCE. These candidates included (probably among others):

  • Adam
  • Enoch
  • Noah
  • Jacob
  • Moses
  • Michael
  • Ya’el
  • the Logos (Philo)
  • Memra
  • Angel / Spirit
  • Spirit / Wisdom

Cutting Through the Content Fray

Michael Heiser spoke in Dayton and Columbus Ohio yesterday. He shared a few tips on research and sources.

  1. Use tools that help you do research more quickly. Cut down the time you need to get to an answer. Dissertations by definition cover all the ground to-date on a specific topic. You get a good summary in the first chapter and all the source information for further research on a topic. This speeds you along without having to lay all the ground yourself.
  2. Read peer-reviewed journals that scholars use. You can trust the hard work has been done here and you won’t be dealing with internet and Google “truth.”
  3. The best content is not online for free, i.e. Google. It will be behind a paywall that can be no-cost, but you have to do a little work. Get credentials at a research university library to access their journal database. Depending on their licensing agreement you may be able to access these remotely. Or you may need to use a terminal in the library itself.

Heiser specified the following resources

  1. American Theological Library Association (ATLA): The ATLA Religion Database® (ATLA RDB®) is the premier index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion, with coverage from 1949 and retrospective indexing for several journal issues as far back as the nineteenth century. Journals are selected for inclusion according to their scholarly merit and scope. The fact that many publishers solicit the inclusion of their journals in ATLA RDB is indicative of the stature it has achieved in the community of religion scholars.
  2. JSTOR: a highly selective digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include top peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports from trusted institutes, and primary sources.
  3. Dr. Heiser’s recommended reading.